A company I used to work for made Sales people work on a large project once so they could feel what its like and how important communication and the efforts in the field were like. As you could imagine, that closed some gaps. Thanks for the great content sir!
Pre walk is huge! We do it on every job. Sales rep, foreman, and owner. Treating the foreman like a partner rather than an employee makes all the difference. Nobody wants to have to un%uck stuff. I will be using that line.
Gold gold gold. What this man shares is absolute gold. What he shares are the issues that actually happen on the jobsite and in a company. His is advise is practical and straight forward.
Thank you for providing this valuable content! Your videos should really reach bigger audience. I noticed some texts on the posters of your background wall, could you show what it all is and why you chosen that? Would be interesting :)
Hi. On the waterfall issue, the salesperson was on the wrong yes, but the business owner was also wrong for not providing design renders of the expected waterfall approved and signed off by the client before any build works. The renders would have ensured there were no costly mistakes on the build. Clare from Kenya. Big fan of your channel.
We started using Basecamp 3 (a $99/mo. project management system with a simple layout) a little over a year ago. At one point communication was becoming a cluster (one person having all of the information, another part of the information, independent convos happening via text, over the phone, only 1 person had the scope of work doc or not at all). All the staff was getting frustrated. After some tweaking, we came up with a format everyone could get down with. Once a proposal is signed and the job is scheduled, a project "card" is created. We have the whole format pre-prepped in the form of a field "fillable" template. The immediate title info of the project card is set up in a way that communicates the core basics that starts with the client name, service to be done, and start date. In the title body, we start with the location, date with start time, assigned staff, who will pick up the work vehicle (if that's at play), and then the job site address, and client timesheet punch-in # and service tasks #'s (we use Timesheet Mobile which geofences the staff at the job site). We got the information in the Message Board section whittled down and set up to show (in this order): LOCATION with includes the address in the subject line. When you click on it location thread, the staff sees the immediate cross streets and the clickable Google Maps directions link to the job site. Below that are simple screenshots from the desktop that show the general Google Map view, a satellite view, close ups of both, and a street view of what the building or business looks like. Next is a Message Board thread that says Field Staff Responsibilities. If you click on that it says: "Any questions about Team / Project Lead / General Field Staff responsibilities, CLICK HERE" and that links to a doc that every staff member needs to get familiar with. Then follows: ONSITE ACCESS DETAILS / SECURITY CODE INFO, pretty self-explanatory, but here we put extras like, "Head to the blue man door at the back of Building 2 next to the truck bays and ring the buzzer". Next is the meat and potatoes, which reads: JOB INFO > Scope of Work > Task Spec Sheet #3456. We add the spec sheet # (i.e., assigned proposal #) for searchability within Basecamp once a job is done and archived in the event we work for the same client again and/or need to pull up relevant data. We copy / paste cropped screenshots of all the relevant info (this let's us crop out what the client is being billed, if that's a concern for you) and/or just upload any documents. We opt for screenshots because some of the more helper staff won't go the extra step to do a view a download so it cuts down on excuses. Here we put extras like relevant square footage, where the lifts are at, man hours, color codes, photos of the areas to be worked on, etc. Next is: Timesheet Mobile Punch-In #XYZ
The only other sections we added / whittled down to (to avoid brain + visual overload) was a To-Do checklist that has a singular section titled Before + After Photos. Just below that are 2 check-off boxes. One for "Before Photos" and one for "After Photos" right below. When they are checked off a notification is sent to the owners, myself, and any other relevant person. The last section is an area titled Docs + Files. Here is where everyone is instructed to post any and all CLEAR photos that are used for job 'proof of life', photo documentation of job site issues / CYA, and pics to use for marketing. We got pushback in the beginning from Those Who Refuse To Change / Adapt / Do Anything Different. But in the end, everyone had a whole lot less to complain about or be called out on outside of their own personal failure to "check the card". If someone is invited / added to a card, they are required to REVIEW the card. If there are ANY questions they can address it with a post or offline somehow. In the beginning, people would still ask, where's the job, who do I talk to, I'm here, where do I go, etc., but we stopped giving them the answers and redirected them back to the card. Rinse, repeat. In order to make this launch successful, I personally took my giant TV computer screen, put it in the conference room, bought a Google Chrome to attach to it and did a screencast from my the Bcamp app on my phone and my computer to show everyone what it visually looked like both ways, go over general features, etc. We also onboard every employee in this way. Even if someone lost their phone, they can still access the info via a desk/laptop, tablet, or someone else's phone. Worst case scenario, the program lets you create a public link of, say, the Scope of Work thread or the Location info off the message board and you can text that link to someone. You can also add a Msg Board thread that only the client has access to keep them apprised of project updates and interactive communication. We thought about that feature, but just decided to keep it all in-house and simple for staff and have key staff communicate with clients or client agents offline.
Once the job is officially done, I add an optional / additional real-time post (not included in the card template) that is titled: CLIENT FOLLOW-UP FEEDBACK: Very Happy! or Needs Touch-Ups, etc. and then put the finer details in the body of the this new post. When the client IS happy (hopefully), this signals the owner to invoice and admins to download any good photos for use. I personally add some internal heads-up codes: RTB or RTB? (Ready to Bill, Ready to Bill? if something minor is up in the air) and / or DL (signifies photos are ready to download) separated by a hyphen. These are added right in front of the job name on the brief / 1st title line. Once the project is invoiced, the owner changes RTB to BILLED, I remove field staff workers from the card, leave myself and the 2 owners on it, and then the card is archived and out of everyone's face on the app. Otherwise, you clutter everyone's screen. There are other integrated features like this in CRM's as well as other Project Management systems (like Trello), but we found Bcamp 3 just kept things super simple for our needs. Not all of our staff are majorly tech-savvy and that was a major factor to start. Outside of that we added a company HQ card at the top that all staff and owners are on for general announcements or feel-good motivational quotes, etc. and Team cards (Project Specialists, Painters, Main Office). We have separate company project cards for Systems / Processes, Biz Dev, Warehouse Ops, and Marketing. Basecamp doesn't have a great segmenting system so we keep these separate and appearing at the bottom after the actual job cards by adding 2 asterisks in front of the title: ***Warehouse Ops. The only other thing is to adjust, and show your people how to edit/adjust their push notification dings, in the settings section. Otherwise, everyone's phone dings every single time something is posted to a card they are on. It was madness at one point with that. BUT they are also responsible to regularly check the app for updates and additions if they silence push notifications. You can also send private messages (private in-app texts) to other staff members that don't need communicating on the card. So if Sally does not want Johnny to have her personal cell # then they can still communicate important work matters within the app. However, guidelines must be set so this does not go sideways with inappropriateness. I think an option like this helps smaller to medium-sized businesses who are growing and possibly experiencing chaos to some degree. A change like this needs buy-in and use from the top otherwise the non-adapters / complainers will poison the well and resist company-wide implementation. Hope this helps someone who actually reads it all and appreciates *unending* , *longwinded* details! :)
Thanks for this video! Owning it I need to make some improvements. Do you have any additional resources you would recommend that would help me dive in deeper on leading my foremen?
The thing is the bigger business gets the less valuable employees become in the eyes of certain business owners. Tell me the day they run it with the remembrance that everybody’s fucking replaceable we’re just a number baby or just a number why are you Gotta be number one for yourself?
A company I used to work for made Sales people work on a large project once so they could feel what its like and how important communication and the efforts in the field were like. As you could imagine, that closed some gaps. Thanks for the great content sir!
Pre walk is huge! We do it on every job. Sales rep, foreman, and owner. Treating the foreman like a partner rather than an employee makes all the difference. Nobody wants to have to un%uck stuff. I will be using that line.
Gold gold gold. What this man shares is absolute gold.
What he shares are the issues that actually happen on the jobsite and in a company. His is advise is practical and straight forward.
Thanks Gabriel
Another great video! Every video I watch teaches me more and more.
Glad you like them Raleigh!
Great video! Many thanks from Romania.
Thank you Ion!
Thank you for providing this valuable content!
Your videos should really reach bigger audience.
I noticed some texts on the posters of your background wall, could you show what it all is and why you chosen that? Would be interesting :)
Hi. On the waterfall issue, the salesperson was on the wrong yes, but the business owner was also wrong for not providing design renders of the expected waterfall approved and signed off by the client before any build works. The renders would have ensured there were no costly mistakes on the build. Clare from Kenya. Big fan of your channel.
We started using Basecamp 3 (a $99/mo. project management system with a simple layout) a little over a year ago. At one point communication was becoming a cluster (one person having all of the information, another part of the information, independent convos happening via text, over the phone, only 1 person had the scope of work doc or not at all). All the staff was getting frustrated.
After some tweaking, we came up with a format everyone could get down with. Once a proposal is signed and the job is scheduled, a project "card" is created. We have the whole format pre-prepped in the form of a field "fillable" template. The immediate title info of the project card is set up in a way that communicates the core basics that starts with the client name, service to be done, and start date. In the title body, we start with the location, date with start time, assigned staff, who will pick up the work vehicle (if that's at play), and then the job site address, and client timesheet punch-in # and service tasks #'s (we use Timesheet Mobile which geofences the staff at the job site).
We got the information in the Message Board section whittled down and set up to show (in this order): LOCATION with includes the address in the subject line. When you click on it location thread, the staff sees the immediate cross streets and the clickable Google Maps directions link to the job site. Below that are simple screenshots from the desktop that show the general Google Map view, a satellite view, close ups of both, and a street view of what the building or business looks like.
Next is a Message Board thread that says Field Staff Responsibilities. If you click on that it says: "Any questions about Team / Project Lead / General Field Staff responsibilities, CLICK HERE" and that links to a doc that every staff member needs to get familiar with.
Then follows: ONSITE ACCESS DETAILS / SECURITY CODE INFO, pretty self-explanatory, but here we put extras like, "Head to the blue man door at the back of Building 2 next to the truck bays and ring the buzzer".
Next is the meat and potatoes, which reads: JOB INFO > Scope of Work > Task Spec Sheet #3456. We add the spec sheet # (i.e., assigned proposal #) for searchability within Basecamp once a job is done and archived in the event we work for the same client again and/or need to pull up relevant data. We copy / paste cropped screenshots of all the relevant info (this let's us crop out what the client is being billed, if that's a concern for you) and/or just upload any documents. We opt for screenshots because some of the more helper staff won't go the extra step to do a view a download so it cuts down on excuses. Here we put extras like relevant square footage, where the lifts are at, man hours, color codes, photos of the areas to be worked on, etc.
Next is: Timesheet Mobile Punch-In #XYZ
The only other sections we added / whittled down to (to avoid brain + visual overload) was a To-Do checklist that has a singular section titled Before + After Photos. Just below that are 2 check-off boxes. One for "Before Photos" and one for "After Photos" right below. When they are checked off a notification is sent to the owners, myself, and any other relevant person.
The last section is an area titled Docs + Files. Here is where everyone is instructed to post any and all CLEAR photos that are used for job 'proof of life', photo documentation of job site issues / CYA, and pics to use for marketing.
We got pushback in the beginning from Those Who Refuse To Change / Adapt / Do Anything Different. But in the end, everyone had a whole lot less to complain about or be called out on outside of their own personal failure to "check the card". If someone is invited / added to a card, they are required to REVIEW the card. If there are ANY questions they can address it with a post or offline somehow. In the beginning, people would still ask, where's the job, who do I talk to, I'm here, where do I go, etc., but we stopped giving them the answers and redirected them back to the card. Rinse, repeat.
In order to make this launch successful, I personally took my giant TV computer screen, put it in the conference room, bought a Google Chrome to attach to it and did a screencast from my the Bcamp app on my phone and my computer to show everyone what it visually looked like both ways, go over general features, etc. We also onboard every employee in this way.
Even if someone lost their phone, they can still access the info via a desk/laptop, tablet, or someone else's phone. Worst case scenario, the program lets you create a public link of, say, the Scope of Work thread or the Location info off the message board and you can text that link to someone.
You can also add a Msg Board thread that only the client has access to keep them apprised of project updates and interactive communication. We thought about that feature, but just decided to keep it all in-house and simple for staff and have key staff communicate with clients or client agents offline.
Once the job is officially done, I add an optional / additional real-time post (not included in the card template) that is titled: CLIENT FOLLOW-UP FEEDBACK: Very Happy! or Needs Touch-Ups, etc. and then put the finer details in the body of the this new post.
When the client IS happy (hopefully), this signals the owner to invoice and admins to download any good photos for use. I personally add some internal heads-up codes: RTB or RTB? (Ready to Bill, Ready to Bill? if something minor is up in the air) and / or DL (signifies photos are ready to download) separated by a hyphen. These are added right in front of the job name on the brief / 1st title line.
Once the project is invoiced, the owner changes RTB to BILLED, I remove field staff workers from the card, leave myself and the 2 owners on it, and then the card is archived and out of everyone's face on the app. Otherwise, you clutter everyone's screen.
There are other integrated features like this in CRM's as well as other Project Management systems (like Trello), but we found Bcamp 3 just kept things super simple for our needs. Not all of our staff are majorly tech-savvy and that was a major factor to start.
Outside of that we added a company HQ card at the top that all staff and owners are on for general announcements or feel-good motivational quotes, etc. and Team cards (Project Specialists, Painters, Main Office).
We have separate company project cards for Systems / Processes, Biz Dev, Warehouse Ops, and Marketing. Basecamp doesn't have a great segmenting system so we keep these separate and appearing at the bottom after the actual job cards by adding 2 asterisks in front of the title: ***Warehouse Ops.
The only other thing is to adjust, and show your people how to edit/adjust their push notification dings, in the settings section. Otherwise, everyone's phone dings every single time something is posted to a card they are on. It was madness at one point with that. BUT they are also responsible to regularly check the app for updates and additions if they silence push notifications.
You can also send private messages (private in-app texts) to other staff members that don't need communicating on the card. So if Sally does not want Johnny to have her personal cell # then they can still communicate important work matters within the app. However, guidelines must be set so this does not go sideways with inappropriateness.
I think an option like this helps smaller to medium-sized businesses who are growing and possibly experiencing chaos to some degree. A change like this needs buy-in and use from the top otherwise the non-adapters / complainers will poison the well and resist company-wide implementation.
Hope this helps someone who actually reads it all and appreciates *unending* , *longwinded* details! :)
Thank you for the information!
Any time Elmer!
Wondering Eye Willie !!
Thanks for this video! Owning it I need to make some improvements. Do you have any additional resources you would recommend that would help me dive in deeper on leading my foremen?
The thing is the bigger business gets the less valuable employees become in the eyes of certain business owners. Tell me the day they run it with the remembrance that everybody’s fucking replaceable we’re just a number baby or just a number why are you Gotta be number one for yourself?
Curse words are the language of the ignorant.