A Little Advice

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Texhunter7

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I am starting with a new company Monday who want,s me to help build and run work for them to build the company back up . I am a little nervous i guess and just want to see what advice to help me out to do this with. I have read a lot of questions and answers on here and there is a lot on here to make a guy think and learn some new things and was just looking for some more input on this new job .
 
I think in general, its pretty simple....ALWAYS put yourself in the customers shoes, and ask yourself how would I feel about it that level of service. Then balance those thoughts, and temper them with meeting the goals of the company financialy.

These bigger contractors here on the forum will be real good with the ''overhead" issues, but remember it has to balance with the supply and demand for your services...

Find out where the company is dropping the ball, and fix it, convincing old customers that its fixed......

"If you go buy a hamburger and it does taste good,or you get better value somewhere else, you wont be back. You'll go somewhere else next time."

Do a search on the net for "what customers want from a contractor"
 
Texhunter7 said:
I am starting with a new company Monday who want,s me to help build and run work for them to build the company back up . I am a little nervous i guess and just want to see what advice to help me out to do this with. I have read a lot of questions and answers on here and there is a lot on here to make a guy think and learn some new things and was just looking for some more input on this new job .
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Gm Text, how many years have you been in the trade? What has been you're main roles in the trade? Electrician, Apprentice, Foreman, estimator,project manager? If they are hiring you as an electrician, and thats what you are ,and you are good at , then there is nothing to worry about. So forth and so forth. If they are wanting you to be something that you are not or something that you have little experience in then that is something to worry about? You know you're strengths and weakness better than anyone. Push you're self to better but don't bite off more than you can chew. If you do a good job and have the available resources for you, things will work out just fine:smile:
 
Texhunter7 said:
I am starting with a new company Monday who want,s me to help build and run work for them to build the company back up .
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What type of electrical work has this company been doing? What is the size of the company? How long have they been in business? What type of company do they wish to build? Is this company under new management or something, recently sold or otherwise changed ownership? What type of position will you have with the new company, General Foreman, project manager or unknown?

What type of work have you been doing? What are your qualifications to build and run work for them? Do you have a lot of contacts or experience that would be helpfull in the direction the company wishes to go?

Trying to build and run a service company can be much different than trying to build and run a construction company. Residential is different than commercial. If you can narrow the field a little it would probably help.
 
Thanks guy,s for the info i have been in the trade for 18 yrs. and i am personally always pushing myself everyday, and also learning something new everyday , guess i just need to relax in this situation and take it all day to day. The door has i guess just opened for a lot more for oppurtuintys and that is where i am kinda nervous.
 
This company has been here for 35 yrs and does a lot of both resi., comm. which i have done both in my time in the trade and have ran job's on both sides of the trade. They do not even advertise and get everything from referrals.
 
Mule said:
I think in general, its pretty simple....ALWAYS put yourself in the customers shoes, and ask yourself how would I feel about it that level of service. Then balance those thoughts, and temper them with meeting the goals of the company financialy.

These bigger contractors here on the forum will be real good with the ''overhead" issues, but remember it has to balance with the supply and demand for your services...

Find out where the company is dropping the ball, and fix it, convincing old customers that its fixed......

"If you go buy a hamburger and it does taste good,or you get better value somewhere else, you wont be back. You'll go somewhere else next time."

Do a search on the net for "what customers want from a contractor"
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"ALWAYS put yourself in the customers shoes, and ask yourself how would I feel about it that level of service."

Great advice for a social worker, he is trying to start up a business.

"These bigger contractors here on the forum will be real good with the ''overhead" issues"

What bigger contractors, most of the EC's that are active on here are one or two man shops, and they don.t sell commodities, they sell their trade services, a profession.

"If you go buy a hamburger and it does taste good,or you get better value somewhere else, you wont be back. You'll go somewhere else next time."

90% of your customers will not be back no matter how good you are, or how cheap, 10% will return even if you overcharged or provided poor service.
 
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Texhunter7 said:
This company has been here for 35 yrs and does a lot of both resi., comm. which i have done both in my time in the trade and have ran job's on both sides of the trade. They do not even advertise and get everything from referrals.
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Is this residential & commercial new construction or service work? It's not really important to advertise for new construction, all you need to know is where and how to bid the jobs. If you are doing service work it's hard to live without advertising.

I worked for a company once that not only didn't advertise they were quite hard to find. They were located on the fifth floor of an office building and only did goverment contract work all over the US. They didn't have any permanent tools or materials storage space. Everything ( office trailers & material trailers & tools) were either rented, on job sites or in transition to other job sites. It was a big/little company that no one had ever herd of, they didn't need for anyone to hear about them because they specialized in only one area of work only. They knew where to bid and how to get the jobs they were looking for and that's all that counts.

Advertising is for dealing directly with the public. Big contractors don't look in the yellow pages.
 
A lot of the work is new work out of the ground, both comm., resi. The other work they get a lot of is by working with a restoration company here locally from when a fire or flooding happens in a home or business and will naturally go take care of service calls.
 
satcom said:
"ALWAYS put yourself in the customers shoes, and ask yourself how would I feel about it that level of service."

Great advice for a social worker, he is trying to start up a business.

"These bigger contractors here on the forum will be real good with the ''overhead" issues"

What bigger contractors, most of the EC's that are active on here are one or two man shops, and they don.t sell commodities, they sell their trade services, a profession.

"If you go buy a hamburger and it does taste good,or you get better value somewhere else, you wont be back. You'll go somewhere else next time."

90% of your customers will not be back no matter how good you are, or how cheap, 10% will return even if you overcharged or provided poor service.
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Here we go again......but Im much smarter this time
 
satcom said:
90% of your customers will not be back no matter how good you are, or how cheap, 10% will return even if you overcharged or provided poor service.
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Sounds like a market where you can charge how ever much you want...not that way here. I would say that 90% of my calls are not repeat, but are folks whom recieved recomendations from customers Ive worked for, and 10% is from the Yellow Pages.....
 
Mule said:
Sounds like a market where you can charge how ever much you want...not that way here. I would say that 90% of my calls are not repeat, but are folks whom recieved recomendations from customers Ive worked for, and 10% is from the Yellow Pages.....
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Yes it is an open market, anyone change what they want, a good example is a few years back one of the posters on this site, sent me a PM, telling me the new guy up the street from us was going to eat our lunch, and everyone elses lunch, we din't belive it because he was charging 2 to 3 times the rate of everyone else. Now two years down the road, the new guy, has expanded his business and many of the local guys that were charging less, are out of business or going out.


Muel, just remember the guys that are PM ing you and warning you, are the same ones that are afraid the charge themself.
 
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90% of your customers will not be back no matter how good you are, or how cheap, 10% will return even if you overcharged or provided poor service.
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I first replied that that was an exaggerated figure. I thought about the MANY repeat customers we have had over the years.

Then I thought about the number of jobs we have had and it's probably accurate.

What that figure DOESN'T acccount for is referrals, which equals repeat business. One good referral could turn into very profitible job or account.


Also, the seemingly low percentage of repeat business comes in part from the fact that a lot of people use an electrician one or twice in their lifetime.
 
220/221 said:
I first replied that that was an exaggerated figure. I thought about the MANY repeat customers we have had over the years.

Then I thought about the number of jobs we have had and it's probably accurate.

What that figure DOESN'T acccount for is referrals, which equals repeat business. One good referral could turn into very profitible job or account.


Also, the seemingly low percentage of repeat business comes in part from the fact that a lot of people use an electrician one or twice in their lifetime.
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"One good referral could turn into very profitible job or account"

The problem comes in, when the referrals are the bottom fish customers, then your referred customer expects a real deal, uaually below your cost.
 
Studies show on the resi side, an avg of once every 3-4 yrs. The key is making them remember you in 4 yrs, no matter how good you were
 
emahler said:
Studies show on the resi side, an avg of once every 3-4 yrs. The key is making them remember you in 4 yrs, no matter how good you were
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Christmas cards, quarterly newsletters, top of mind awareness ads, etc. are a big help in this regard.
 
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