ever heard this

[westelectric]

First time posting. Ive been listening alot lately and got some valuable info from everyone. Thanks to all. Anyway, we are a small (3 mechanics, 2 helpers not including me)mainly res. shop. I recently got my masters licence(thanks to Pierre's test prep class) and have been playing more of a foreman role and spending most of my time setting up jobs, scheduling work, and estimating while trying to sqeeze in a couple of service calls a day too. But lately ive been hearing this when i talk to customers on the phone...That sounds great, but I want You to do the job. Please dont send one of your guys. They are ok but i'd rather have you do it yourself. How do you tell these people that you cant possibly be everywhere nor tie yourself up for a whole day or 2 or 3 just to do there job? How do you convince them that your guys are qualified to do the job and they are in good hands. Some of these old time customers just dont want to hear it?

 

[nakulak]

tell them the truth:

tell them you have 5 guys that you have personally trained, your company is growing and you can't go out and do the work now, you have 5 great guys, they are all very good mechanics and you promise the job will get done right, and they are all trustworthy.

plus you will send your best guys over to their house.

if they aren't happy about anything, call you immediately.


and tell your guys what the customers are saying, because if they don't get the same kind of repeat business from their work standards you won't get the same kind of repeat business and referrals that have helped to keep you in business.

 

[Rewire]

We do shadowing,I go to the job with the tech,introduce him and he starts the work while I spend time with the customer this gives the mental picture that me and the tech are on the same page..After about 15 minutes I tell the customer I need to step out to look at other work but I am leaving John Doe to finish and he will take good care of them.My techs understand customer service so the next call the customer usually requests Jonh Doe to come out.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I always felt that was the problem with getting bigger. "You" went out and built a reputation as a quality electrician, not your guys. The people are calling "you", if they wanted someone else to do the work, they would have called someone else.

I had a mechanic like that, he was great, so great that he couldn't keep up with the work so he hired three or four guys, he ended up sitting in the office answering the phone and doing paperwork. Soon the quality of the work was so bad that he ended up having to close the doors and his reputation was shot even though it wasn't really him doing the work.

Of course on the flip side we have a local electrician, who I don't think has had the tools on it twenty years, but of his 4 foremen the shorttimer has been with him for 10 years or so and all of his crews are top notch.

Tough call.

 

[brantmacga]

I always felt that was the problem with getting bigger. "You" went out and built a reputation as a quality electrician, not your guys. The people are calling "you", if they wanted someone else to do the work, they would have called someone else.

That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. I have a few customers that call "me" because they know me, but I would rather people call my company because they've heard "xxx electric co. is a great company to do business with" instead of "yeh that brant is sure good to do business with". main reason is that one day this puppy will be for sale, and if people have been buying 'you' instead of 'your company', then you have no real product, do you?

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

I had a mechanic like that, he was great, so great that he couldn't keep up with the work so he hired three or four guys, he ended up sitting in the office answering the phone and doing paperwork. Soon the quality of the work was so bad that he ended up having to close the doors and his reputation was shot even though it wasn't really him doing the work.

In this situation, would you say his employees were under his direct supervision as required by the license?

 

[mdshunk]

When they want "YOU", that's a selling issue that you need to work out during your pitch. Don't use the words "I" and "my", and use the words "us" and "we" exclusively. Don't talk about yourself, but talk about "the guys". Sell the organization and not yourself. My gut tells me that you're subconsciously selling yourself.

The other thought that comes to mind is this. Have these people seen or have they had experience with some of the other guys? Perhaps these are guys that protray a non-professional appearance or who are otherwise lacking in skill or attitude? If that's the case, these customers might have a very legitimate request.

 

[mdshunk]

In this situation, would you say his employees were under his direct supervision as required by the license?

Depends on the rules where he's at. In one particular jurisdiction where I work where licensing is required, they do require that unlicensed electricians be under the direct supervision of the licensed person. Oddly, the officials charged with enforcing this rule don't feel that the licensed person has to be bodily present on the jobsite, or even in town. He could be in Tahiti on vacation, as long as he's the direct supervisor of those men on record.

 

[bkludecke]

I've had this same issue has come up many times over the years. I usually tell them that they don't really want rusty old me to work on their house. I have a great and diverse crew who can work circles around me and are up to speed on the latest stuff. I also tell them that when I get work done on my own house I use my crew, not me.

Supervision and folow up is the key. Be there to start up the job if you can and always swing by near the end to make sure it is all going well. and by all means, if a problem comes up later, take care of it right away.

Also, when a problem comes up, take ownership of it. Never blame your crew or a workman. If your company messed up, YOU are responsible and YOU should accept the blame and see that it is remedied to the customer's satisfaction.

 

[growler]

I had a mechanic like that, he was great, so great that he couldn't keep up with the work so he hired three or four guys, he ended up sitting in the office answering the phone and doing paperwork. Soon the quality of the work was so bad that he ended up having to close the doors and his reputation was shot even though it wasn't really him doing the work.

If you you only have four guys working in the field and you are to lazy to check up on them then you should go out of business.

I knew of a contractor that was the same way, his real problem was that he would hire anyone that walked through the door that was breathing if they would work cheap enough.

This guy didn't go out of business but for the last few years he has been back out in the field watching over these helpers that he hired and tried to call electricians. They don't stay long so he has to get new ones.

The moral of the story is this: He could have sit in the office if he was willing to hire real electricians but for the $8-$10 an hour that he was paying at the time he could only get guys with one or two years of experience and this didn't work out.

When hired to correct some of the problems created by his crew I found that the guys were not all that dumb they just didn't have any training. The owner wanted to collect all the money and not spend any on tallent.
He would actually try to coach his guys over the phone.

People like this give the whole industry a bad name and this is one reason that some people really don't like to pay $75-$100 an hour. I wouldn't want to pay someone that much just to train on my house/business either.

 

[growler]

In this situation, would you say his employees were under his direct supervision as required by the license?

There are so many loop holes in the way that law was written. If they really wanted to give the rule any teeth they would have required that the master electrician acually inspect each and every job. There would be a requirement that every service truck have at least a journeyman electrician.

As long a someone is willing to take responsibility for the work that is enough in most states.

For all states that actually do have these rules I wasn't talking about you ( Bob ).

 

[cowboyjwc]

In this situation, would you say his employees were under his direct supervision as required by the license?

Sorry guess I should have been more specific. I meant "auto mechanic", but as you can see, it's the same thing. More than once on an inspection I have heard a contractor say, "guess I should have checked on my guys."

I would also say that if you send your guys out, they are not under your "direct" supervision, but I agree with what Marc said, technically they are under your supervision as long as you are the boss.

Bob made some very good points too.

 

[aline]

I had a mechanic like that, he was great, so great that he couldn't keep up with the work so he hired three or four guys, he ended up sitting in the office answering the phone and doing paperwork. Soon the quality of the work was so bad that he ended up having to close the doors and his reputation was shot even though it wasn't really him doing the work.

Could it be that he never charged enough, so that when it came time to hire employees, he couldn't offer enough pay and compensation to attract the better employees in the area? Was he charging enough to be able to provide proper training for his employees?

He may have had to close his doors due to the simple fact he never charged enough to be able to handle the situation. Wasn't charging enough to hire someone to answer the phone and do the paper work so he could manage the business and make sure quality wasn't going down the toilet.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Could it be that he never charged enough, so that when it came time to hire employees, he couldn't offer enough pay and compensation to attract the better employees in the area? Was he charging enough to be able to provide proper training for his employees?

He may have had to close his doors due to the simple fact he never charged enough to be able to handle the situation. Wasn't charging enough to hire someone to answer the phone and do the paper work so he could manage the business and make sure quality wasn't going down the toilet.

Don't know all the paticualrs, all I know is I was paying him plenty to work on my cars ($50 an hr in the 70s) and I was sending work his way all the time. Finally I just told him one day that if he wasn't the one that was going to work on my car I would have to find someone else and did.