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What Are Your Golden Rules?
We need to let people know the rules - what we stand for, our corporate goals and visions. In my case, my Dad made it very clear to all of us. The simple mission was, ‘I don’t care what you do all day, but when it comes to the way you treat customers, you better be able to look in the mirror when you get home, and not have to turn away.’
That simple statement meant that we had to treat people the right way – the way we’d like to be treated ourselves. That is what we have to make clear to new employees, so that they understand our core values, what we really stand for, and what we’re trying to achieve.
It is important to set the criteria under which your company operates early on in the orientation phase. If you have developed rock-solid, behavior-defined service guidelines which you refuse to negotiate, then these “golden rules” will ultimately define the culture of your business. Your list of golden rules should be small enough so that you are able to hold your employees accountable for all of them without failure.
Do not put it on your list unless you are willing to terminate someone for non-compliance.
You may be running a company with no guidelines in place yet. You may have a few that have been communicated verbally or which may exist in writing, but have lacked the follow-through necessary to call them non-negotiable. Here are five guidelines for implementing your golden rules:
- Implement your golden rules one at a time.
- Introduce the first one in a formal meeting, and communicate its importance to your employees.
- Explain its value to both the customer and the company, and put it in writing.
- Make it clear that non-compliance is not acceptable, and let them know the consequences.
- Once you have successfully implemented the first one, move on to the second, and so on.
Many of the PHCE industry owners and managers I come in contact with refuse to even enforce the minimal sales, operational and technical guidelines they have. This is because they’re afraid the technicians will quit.
This makes you a hostage!
You must refuse to be held hostage in our own company. By enforcing your golden rules, you will be able to hire and build effective technicians - technicians who are willing to be held accountable to your sales, operational and technical guidelines.
I’d love to help you create your golden rules and provide you with the guidelines for enforcing them. Check my web site for more information on my two-day Planning Power! consultations.
Announcements Ellen Rohr and I will be delivering a "tag team" Leadership Power! program at the AHR Expo on January 22nd, 2008 in New York City, NY. In this high-impact, hands-on seminar, attendees will learn how to systematically solve problems, shore up their financial foundation and - the best part - become a leader worth following! Go to www.ahrexpo.com for more information and to register for this event.
If you belong to a trade association or group that could benefit from one of my seminars or workshops, refer to Power! Presentations on my web site for more information on how to expose your group to the Power!
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Make Good Things Happen To Your Business — Call Al!
“Al, I just wanted to keep you current on our status year to date. If you remember, last year at this time we came off our worst month ever and we lost 40.8% in February. I am happy to say, with the help of you and Ellen Rohr, we are making strides little by little and finished up February with a 10% net profit and increased sales by 43% from the year before. We were working very hard to break even, knowing this is our slowest month. We are off to an equally strong March and just keep putting our money away for a new building and growth.
Training, Training, Training is the key. We still need more, but every little bit helps. I will keep you posted, but wanted to say thank you.”
Matt Morse, President, Precision Plumbing Services, Carol Stream, IL |
Questions & Answers
Q. I have to nag and plead with my installers to do what they’re supposed to be paid to do. They rarely finish the jobs on-time, they use more materials than they’re supposed to and then they generate call-backs.
I tried yelling, but that doesn’t seem to help either.
Got any suggestions?
A.This is a common frustration among my clients. The problem is, you haven’t addressed their “WIIFM” which is “What’s In It For Me.”
What I teach my clients to do is to set up a reward program as follows:
- Bring the job in on-time
- Bring the job in within a defined percentage of the material estimated
- Complete an Exit Checklist with the customer and turn it in to the office
- Generate no call-backs for 60 days
Do all this and you’ll receive a bonus. Typically I recommend $25 per day that the job takes to complete. So, a two-day job, for instance, would have a reward potential of $50. The money for this reward is figured into the selling price by the person who gives the price quote.
It’s a win for the company, a win for the installer and a win for the customer.
Give it a try!
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