I have received numerous letters more or less along the same lines, but none as eloquent as what you are about to read. Please excuse it’s length, but it is the heart-felt story of a plumber’s career and he deserves to be heard. It requires no further commentary from me. It speaks for itself.
Dear Mr. Blau,
I am writing to you in hope that maybe my screams into the night may be heard. People say that a letter should be direct and to the point but I won’t be able to do that. You have probably heard this story a thousand times, but if you could hear it one more time and possibly end with some of your famous advice it would be greatly appreciated.
First, I have become an admirer of yours through your articles in the Buzz. Every one of your articles rings the bell of truth, but so many plumbers are deaf and cannot hear it.
My history has been [...]

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As many of you know, Bio-Clean® is one of the best add-on sales products available to service plumbing contractors. This environmentally friendly biological drain cleaner, which comes in powdered form, is a trade exclusive sold directly to plumbing contractors. You won’t find it in any home centers or even on wholesaler shelves. This little gem is key to upping your average ticket and showing your clients that you do more than just install and repair.
Getting Techs To Sell It: How do you get your service techs to sell it? The answer is that you begin by having everyone learn the fundamentals of salesmanship. Most contractors are not good marketers. First, they don’t charge enough for their work, and therefore they don’t have the time or money needed to train their people.
There are no natural born salesmen. Yet everyone who deals with customers, whether a dispatcher, customer service rep or service tech, is a salesperson. It is the contractor’s responsibility to [...]

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Recruiting and keeping good employees, especially service techs, is the most difficult thing I know of in the PHC service business. I’m sure that Blau Sudden Services has a better track record than most firms in the industry, simply because we offer one of the best compensation and benefits packages to be found anywhere. Our service technicians have been here an average of seven years, with two at the 23-year mark in tenure. Office personnel average five years of service, with a couple in the 10-year range.
But our track record of employee retention is hardly ideal. I remember when we lost a service tech that had been with us for close to 20 years. That was an eye-opener to me.
Let me admit that I do not regard myself as the epitome of enlightened management. Regrettably, I’ve done my share of ranting and raving at employees over the years. Most people tell me that I’ve mellowed considerably since I removed myself [...]

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Frank Blau
Contributing Author
Blau Plumbing
 
I don’t know if one of my students made a New Year’s resolution or not but the proof of what he’s accomplished since 2007 is apparent in the profit and loss statements shown on the attached excel sheet. It compares the last five years from a former student. Here’s what he wrote me:
“It has only been two years since my first Blau seminar, a quick 24 months. What a difference that time has made in my life and all those around me. I’ve put together a consolidated version of the last three profit & loss statements (’07 - ’09) since I attended your seminar. As you can see, I was in the “can” before we met, but wanted to stress to you and your followers how bad off we really were.”
Since then I’ve included two additional statements from Jan ’10 and ‘11. This company offers dramatic evidence of how quickly PHC service contractors can turn their life [...]

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Sooner or later it happens to everyone in the business. A disgruntled customer notices the prices of parts and merchandise sold at the retail stores and complains about the big markups charged by the contractor. This is a bigger problem for time and material firms, whose prices are itemized for all to see at a glance. However, even we flat raters face it from time to time. Continue Reading »

“How much will a new water heater sot me – mine is leaking?” Anyone in the PHC service business hears this question and others like it numerous times a day over the phone. Most attempt to answer it by quoting an hourly labor rate or giving a “ballpark” estimate of what the job will cost based on the caller’s description of the problem. Continue Reading »

I conducted a seminar before my largest crowd ever at the International Liquid Waste Haulers convention. More than 800 people attended. As always, when I asked for a show of hands asking how many people knew what it costs them to do business per productive hour or per gallon of waste hauled, almost nobody raised their hands. It’s an all too sad and all too familiar story. As a result, their industry, like ours, sells its services short. Many of their members charge between $60-75 to dispose of 1,000 gallons of yuck. In most cases they need to charge three to four times more to earn a decent living for their families and be able to operate in a professional manner. Instead, just like our industry, they slave away for 70-80 hours a week trying to make ends meet. Continue Reading »

When you decide to go into business for yourself, you may have had a vague idea of what a day in the life of a successful entrepreneur might be like. For some people, it’s breeze through the door at 10:00 a.m., chat a bit with the office staff and then troll through the service department inspiring the adoring dispatchers and service techs. Then, after a heavily martinied lunch, comes a leisurely round of golf. Your evening would be spent at some exciting social event, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. A typical day for the owner of a contracting firm, right? Continue Reading »

You are sick and tired of being a slave to that disaster you call a business. The one that pays slave wages and lousy benefits to employees and little or nothing to yourself and your spouse. The business that is sustained only by the patience of your vendors, who don’t get paid for 90 days or more when times slow down. Finally, you are ready to make a change for the better. You purchase the Frank Blau “Business of Contracting Kit”- from ShuBee. You have become a numbers cruncher. For the first time in your life you’ve learned what it really costs to run a business, and what you and your employees are worth in the way of compensation. You make the decision to run a business as it should be run – in a way that takes care of you, your spouse, your employees and your customers the way they deserve. Continue Reading »

I predict that more and more companies will transfer stock ownership to the troops because it works to motivate the employee-owner to work harder, faster, better. They pay attention when it’s their assets and reputation at stake. It is the ultimate empowerment. A friend of mine, who has a pretty decent compensation package, recently told me that he was getting ready to sell the business. He wanted to give the employees first shot at the sale. As soon as he told them this, their behavior changed virtually overnight. They were always hard workers, but suddenly phone messages were being returned lickety-split. Spare copper fittings were being viewed as inventory rather than garbage. Suggestions for improvement were being proffered left and right. Continue Reading »