Selling Service

[tyha]

How do you guys sell your service and PM. When I first started our company i had no problem going out to GC offices and talking with them and selling me and my company. Now its a different ball game. we have alot of projects under contract that are starting only god knows when and we are wrapping up most everything else. So we are in need of some short term, quick pay , keep the guys busy kind of stuff. I never had any problems selling to established customers or GC's but that is not going to be enough right now if i want to keep all of my key people in place. Do I just go to offices and industrial buildings and asked do they need us to check lights. I would not be asking this of just anyone, I know most every poster on here is extremely business savy and knows where I am comming from. Because I am not the type of person that asks for help. But to the best of you - please help me get some ideas. Thanks as always

 

[satcom]

When your thinking about, keep the guys busy kind of stuff, your already in trouble, and it's usually just a matter of time before you run short on cash flow, over the years, i noticed the EC's that let their guys go on unemployment, always did better then the guys that tried to hold on, that good guy you have, might prefer unemployment to busy work, I have seem good guys leave, and find other work, because they were doing busy work.

Service is usually not something you jump into with out prior planning, and heavy advertising.

 

[Sparky555]

Service is a different animal with different bidding, pricing and much more marketing. You might do well door-to-door looking for maintenance. My BIL gets business that way, but it's not my idea of fun.

Dave

 

[Minuteman]

Run a 3 line classified ad in your local paper under the "service" section. Run it for a week at a time. You will have to weed through some seedy house flippers and landlords, but you get will some calls for some one day jobs. Room additions, small remodels, add a hot tub or A/C circuit, service upgrades, and the like. The ad is cheep and when your other works picks back up, just stop running the ad.

 

[Rewire]

you can't start at the goal,launching a new product or service takes time,often months or years to get to the reward phase.

 

[macmikeman]

Just go on Craigslist and place a "handyman" ad. Be sure to put "unlicensed" in the spot where you are supposed to write your company license number. You will get all kinds of action. If you put Licensed Electrical Contractor in your ad, nobody will call you.

 

[Sparky555]

When your thinking about, keep the guys busy kind of stuff, your already in trouble, and it's usually just a matter of time before you run short on cash flow, over the years, i noticed the EC's that let their guys go on unemployment, always did better then the guys that tried to hold on, that good guy you have, might prefer unemployment to busy work, I have seem good guys leave, and find other work, because they were doing busy work.

Service is usually not something you jump into with out prior planning, and heavy advertising.

I don't have employees so my experience in the matter is zip. I see two opposing forces on the labor issue. One model is like they use in restaurants & day care centers. Labor is a large percentage of the business, so they ramp up & down hourly to save labor $$. The other force is that it took a long time to train a good employee & you don't want to lose them by telling them 3 days this week, 4 days next week. It's a shame their aren't more contractors with employees to weigh in on this.

Dave

 

[satcom]

The other force is that it took a long time to train a good employee & you don't want to lose them by telling them 3 days this week, 4 days next week. It's a shame their aren't more contractors with employees to weigh in on this.

Dave

"you don't want to lose them by telling them 3 days this week, 4 days next week."

That's right, reason you don't do that, just lay them off, let them collect unemployment, if you paying a decent rate, you should have no problem finding good help when things pick up, it's usually the guys that are down in the dirt with pay, that are concerned with losing them.

And all will depend on what type of work you are doing, bid work, production jobs, or service type work, trainning is something ongoing, so it should not change anything.

 

[tyha]

, if you paying a decent rate, you should have no problem finding good help when things pick up, it's usually the guys that are down in the dirt with pay, that are concerned with losing them.

And all will depend on what type of work you are doing, bid work, production jobs, or service type work, trainning is something ongoing, so it should not change anything.

That may be the way it is in whatever world your in but here the labor market is very tight and we spend about $3,000 per man on finding the type of guys I have now. We pay very well for our area and I'm not spending that money to find more guys. We will be fine, I just didn't want to shift guys back and forth on other guys jobs based on who has the most amount of hours left. But you can rest assured, I know for a fact these guys wouldn't leave me even if I had them out mowing my lawn.

 

[emahler]

That may be the way it is in whatever world your in but here the labor market is very tight and we spend about $3,000 per man on finding the type of guys I have now. We pay very well for our area and I'm not spending that money to find more guys. We will be fine, I just didn't want to shift guys back and forth on other guys jobs based on who has the most amount of hours left. But you can rest assured, I know for a fact these guys wouldn't leave me even if I had them out mowing my lawn.

nah, they just order extra wire for side jobs...sorry, couldn't resist...i think that was you, right?

 

[tyha]

nah, they just order extra wire for side jobs...sorry, couldn't resist...i think that was you, right?

yeah thanks
him or nobody that I feel is close to the way he was is included in that group

 

[emahler]

yeah thanks
him or nobody that I feel is close to the way he was is included in that group

unfortunately i know the feeling...have employees long enough and you will become jaded...what was the outcome with that anyway?

 

[Sparky555]

nah, they just order extra wire for side jobs...sorry, couldn't resist...i think that was you, right?

That probably gets his heart pumping the same as you thinking about a certain Sprinter engine. As my son & I are fond of saying "Water under the bridge".

Dave

 

[tyha]

what was the outcome with that anyway?

the outcome was basically acted out here. I knew what I was supposed to do i just needed to vent. Now its one in the learning column. We just revisit all our hiring and new employee procedures, buckled down and actually had a meeting with our employees about the company's position on side work and theft.
ps I DO NOT want to have a conversation on this forum about side work and our company's internal decisions regarding it.

 

[emahler]

the outcome was basically acted out here. I knew what I was supposed to do i just needed to vent. Now its one in the learning column. We just revisit all our hiring and new employee procedures, buckled down and actually had a meeting with our employees about the company's position on side work and theft.
ps I DO NOT want to have a conversation on this forum about side work and our company's internal decisions regarding it.

fair enough...i wish i could say we've never been there....

 

[Minuteman]

A short term method would be to run a 3 line classified ad in your local news paper under the "service" section. Run the ad for a week at a time. You will have to weed through some seedy house flippers, bid shoppers and landlords, but you get will some calls for some for room additions, small remodels, add a hot tub or A/C circuit, service upgrades, and the like. The ad is cheep and when your work picks up, just stop running the ad.