I am a restaurant person.  My first job was handing out cheese samples in the mall for a gourmet cheese company.  That was my first job serving food and making sales.  I love restaurants…and have worked in virtually every position on the org chart.  Perhaps I would still be in the restaurant business if my husband hot rod’s partner had not died.
Team Pride…
My nephew Christian is a restaurant manager with a very cool company in Park City, Utah.  It’s called Bill White Enterprises.  http://billwhiteenterprises.com Owner, Bill White operates differently from most restaurateurs.  His focus is on happy diners.  That is the statistic that drives every decision.  How do we create an amazing dining experience…and how many people do we make happy?  Every day, that’s the basis of the management team’s discussion.  Sales revenues are reviewed monthly…and not of immediate interest.   The team understands that a fantastic gastronomical experience delivered to enough people drives the top line and bottom line numbers.  [...]

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 [...]

For 20 years I traveled all over this country attempting to stamp the message of profitability into the lives of the wonderful people in this great industry, and teach them self-respect for the indispensable work they do. It has been a burning passion of mine.
At various times I tried to enlighten, cajole, embarrass or do whatever else it takes to get the message across. I made numerous friends along the way – as well as a few enemies. What is frustrating to me, however, is knowing that my articles and seminars are not enough. If a seminar was all it took for a contractor to turn his or her life around, you would find me presenting them every week of the year. A seminar helps, but it takes more.
Think about it. What is more demanding than single-handedly taking an existing PHC business that has under-performed for years, with an underpaid and demoralized work force, and turning that business into a [...]

Have you been to www.Pinterest.com? If so, odds are you spent a lot of time there, compulsively looking at just-one-more page of beautiful images.   If not, ask a few people in your life about Pinterest.  You’ll get some animated responses, particularly from women, as they talk about their boards and pins and exactly how they are going to re-do the bathroom, travel through Italy or layout the garden.
What is Pinterest? It’s a virtual corkboard, upon which you can “pin” images and words.  If you like something someone else has pinned, you can re-pin it on your board.  You make friends by following other “Pinners” and they can respond to or re-pin your images and well, you start to get the idea.
What’s in it for you? I’m a big fan of visualization and have always put “vision boards” together to help me set goals and make things happen.  You,too?  Then you will love creating boards for “Vacations” or “My Dream Home” [...]

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 [...]

Leadership is an important component of all successful HVAC, plumbing, and electrical independent contracting companies.  But a strong and mature leader is one who desires to mentor, grow, and cultivate future leaders that are following in their footsteps.  While recruiting great coworkers is always an important part of growing a company, it is also vitally important that leaders cultivate leadership skills in longtime and loyal coworkers that have been part of their company team through good and bad.  Many times, the best leaders are those that come from within the company and who have been trained through the company. They may not have been at the top of the “business ladder” when joining the company team but they have been dependable, solid, growth-oriented coworkers who have consistently worked to better the company and each team member.
Strong leaders can only emerge in your service company if current leaders choose to cultivate and share their knowledge, experience, and leadership skills.  Growing effective [...]

In a classic Lennox dealer meeting video, the Lennox territory manager encourages Dealer Jack to provide training for his technicians.
"What if I train them and they leave?" exclaims Dealer Jack.
"What if you don't and they stay?" counters the TM.
As amazing as it seems, many small businesses hesitate to invest in training for their employees. They would rather retain ignorance than to risk losing competence. The irony is that by training, they do neither.
One of the most technically advanced residential air conditioning companies in the country is Air Conditioning by Jay in Scottsdale, Arizona. Bryce Johnson from A/C by Jay reports that a strong training program makes it easier to hire good technicians. Johnson says technicians want to learn and know that his company provides some of the best training for advanced diagnostics in the area. They seek out A/C by Jay, waiting for an opportunity.
Training helps attract and retain employees, but so does extra benefits and higher pay. For training [...]

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 [...]

My rookie year…
Once upon a time, I quit my real job (restaurant manager – good salary, benefits and someone to cover for me when I wasn’t around) and went to work for my husband, Hot Rod, in his contracting company.
It was the dumbest decision I have ever made.  It was hell.  I left my steady paycheck behind and assumed financial responsibility for a sinking-fast company.  I was college educated.  I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Business Administration.
The BS really stood for my approach to business.  I didn’t know what I was doing.
I was the rookie bean counter.  And, I didn’t know my asset from my elbow.
I did NOT want to crunch numbers, look at spreadsheets or confront our financial situation.  I wanted so badly for a magical bean counter fairy to wave a wand and make millions of dollars appear in our checking account.
“Shouldn’t our accountant handle this?” I fumed.  “I don’t have time to figure this [...]

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 [...]