Make it so, number One!

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Minuteman

Minuteman

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The Sooner Nation
After reading the tread "Most profitable electrical skill", I got to thinking about who is the most valuable asset to an EC.
  1. Accountant
  2. Office Manager
  3. Parts Manager
  4. Right-hand-Man
  5. Lawyer

My tought is, a Captain needs a trustworthy First Mate, IMO (as you can tell by the thread title).

Sure a one man shop can be successful, but an EC needs to have a top notch guy that he can depend upon for his business to grow.

Trouble shooter? Yep!
Estimator? Sure thing boss!
Foreman? Got it!

Go ahead and take a few days off, I got your back.
 
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In my case, it is a business partner that runs the business, chases money, keeps the vendors paid and the IRS satisfied (for the most part). The second person is a right man that has taken over estimation and runniong the men.
 
Minuteman said:
After reading the tread "Most profitable electrical skill", I got to thinking about who is the most valuable asset to an EC.
  1. Accountant
  2. Office Manager
  3. Parts Manager
  4. Right-hand-Man
  5. Lawyer

...
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I wear all those hats.

Accountants are important but they are also easy to find, just make sure you do the background check, credit check, and make then sign a confidentiality agreement.

Parts Manager/ Warehouse Manager/ Purchasing Agent are hard to find, and worth triple their salary if they can perform at even half of what I expect.

Lawyers- A necessary evil.

You forgot:

CPA- An absolute must.
FOREMEN- You cant do big or multiple jobs without them. You must have good leadership or it wont work.
 
480sparky said:
As well as Collection Agent
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My office manager knows the ins and outs of how to make a lien, when to make a lien and how to collect my money. She is a bit sadistic about it and enjoys her work, I just leave her alone and hope she does not ask for more money.
 
ITO said:
I don't have any salesmen and have more work than I can do or even want to do.
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Did you just open up shop and sit there by the phone waiting for it to ring?
No advertising or selling whatsoever.
How did you get jobs if you didn't sell them?

In my opinion everyone is a salesman.

If you're an employee your a salesman. You had to sell yourself to even get the job. You have to sell yourself if you want a raise. You have to sell yourself if you want to keep your job. If you can sell your boss on the fact that your services are worth more than what your currently being paid you may get a raise. If you can't you probably won't and may even get fired.
Have you ever worked with someone who was paid more than you but you felt you were a better worker and deserved more? Maybe it's because they're a better salesman than you and were able to demonstrate to the boss that they were worth more.

I would disagree that you don't have any salesmen.
You may not have an official salesman title for your company but you & your employees are always selling your company to your customers by communicating why they should be doing business with you.

When you meet with a customer for the first time, are you not selling yourself and your company to that customer?

Do you ever get jobs even though you're not the lowest price?
You must have sold them on a reason to pay more for your services.

Have you ever lost a job even though you were the lowest price?
The other guy must have sold them on a reason to pay more for his services.

If someone is giving you money you must have sold something.
Wouldn't this mean you're a saleman?

How did you get all this work without selling it?
 
or...you just buy jobs, i mean bid jobs, until you get big enough to hopefully make money on the volume...
 
Some people may sell themselves as being the lowest price but they still had to sell something. So I still consider them a salesman. A better salesman would be able to sell themselves even though they're the highest price.

They may not be any better than the lowest priced company. Just better at selling themselves.

When I said salesman I didn't mean actually having the title of saleman in your company and specifically hiring a salesman but someone has to sell the company and the better they are at it the more the company can charge.

This is why if feel selling is the most profitable skill you can have.
You can be great at all the other stuff but if you can't sell that fact to your customer's what good is it?

If you're applying for a job the better you are at selling yourself the more likely you are to get the job. Keeping it is another story. But if you're really good at selling you can probably convince them to keep you even if you are worthless.
 
I am on lots of bidders lists, and got there by being low, completing the job on time and doing quality work. Word spread and people call me for bids and to do work for them. If work gets slow I cruise Isquared-ft and download plans, then submit more bids. The right price beats a salesman any day in a competitive market like this. The closest thing I have to a sales pitch is a written proposal and a business card; if a client needs stroking they can go find half a dozen other suits to do that for them.

When I am involved in a design build, sometimes I do a presentation for plans or light fixtures at a GC client meeting but its low key and factual and I let the GC sell the job. The GC have great salesmen, if you are on their team they do the work, and they like it like that.

I don’t have a yellow pages add, sales staff, advertisements or even hats (I may buy some hats this year the guys really want some), my website is a joke its more for contact info and ftp usage than anything else. I only put my name on the trucks when the state made me and it is on in the smallest letters allowed.

Its very simple, do good work, do it fast, take good care of your GCs and they will keep you so busy you cant stand it.
 
ITO said:
I am on lots of bidders lists, and got there by being low, completing the job on time and doing quality work. Word spread and people call me for bids and to do work for them.

very simple, do good work, do it fast, take good care of your GCs and they will keep you so busy you cant stand it.
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I would consider this selling. There are a lot of ways to sell. You don't need sales pitches or lots of advertising to be a saleman. I still maintain that if someone is giving you money you must have sold something. Thus you are a salesman. There is a buyer and there is a seller. The better the salesman you are the more money people will spend with you or the more likely they will want to do business with you instead of someone else.

Do you never try to upsell anything?
Even just telling them you have it if they want it is selling.
You could have just kept quiet and not even mentioned it.

ITO said:
I am on lots of bidders lists, and got there by being low, completing the job on time and doing quality work. Word spread and people call me for bids and to do work for them.

very simple, do good work, do it fast, take good care of your GCs and they will keep you so busy you cant stand it.
Click to expand...
I take it back. You do need a sales pitch. This is your sales pitch. This is why they buy from you instead of someone else.
 
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Sure it's selling, I just don't have a salesman doing it.

I also don't "upsell" or play games; get in, get out fast, get on to the next job, and make money doing, that is my business model.

One of my mentors is IMHO the best salesman I have ever seen, the man could estimate on a yellow legal pad of paper in a budgeting meeting, and then sell a 20 story high rise condo based very basic concept drawings. The man could book 50-100 million in work a year....but I cant, and would die even trying to build half of that in a year.

My business model is lean and mean and takes into account my strengths and weaknesses, and right now I can barely keep up with the work that just walks in my door... so I do not need or have any full time salesmen.
 
try taking some time off, when you get back you will soon realize that you are the most important part.
Possibly you gave some ,more money and some ,
more responsibility, you can be guaranteed that more will have been spent than you intended and your higher paid personal took a vacation
Such is the memories of those addicted to self employed!
 
You can't win em all. Most salesmen influenced customers tend to be very fickle.

Also, a slick pitch usually comes as a curve ball, loaded with a bunch of *changer order* spin.
 
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