Plan for Success

Plan for Success

Jim Hinshaw
Contributing Writer
Improvement Professional, President & Sales

Will start with a question: what did you do last weekend? Realize Josh Nepa (Autumn Air) organized and threw one of the highest horsepower events ever! He put together Race Wars 17 in Springerville. Not only did a ton of fast cars attend, they had vendors, people taking photos, guys showing off $20,000 paint jobs, all sorts of automotive resources. Josh set up several actual race tracks, everything up a full mile. High speed achieved was over 200 mph! Not his first project like this, he knows how to get things done. More importantly, Josh planed for success, which is where I want to camp out for a few minutes.

Summer is over. And in some markets, it was a great selling season, made some money, got some folks comfortable. What next? Some of you in Colorado or Michigan have a winter right around the corner, ready for the heating season to kick in. Good to be prepared, but here is my concern/question. What if the weather doesn’t show up? What if It is mild weather up north, you have an October/November that is shirtsleeve warm?

I believe we need to plan for success, so here are 7 items that will help move you to success.

1. The calendar is not flexible, December shows up even if you are not prepared. So put together plans for the holidays, who is on call, how to charge maintenance agreement customers as well as new customers on a holiday, that sort of thing. What about your employees, doing anything special for them this year? You should, do all you can to be sure they are part of a team, not just showing up to work.

2. Get involved in a business group that can help your company grow and prosper. ACCA, PHCC and many others can offer valuable insights as well as best practices that may be hard to discover working by yourself

3. Be involved in networking events, fund raisers for charity, special projects that your company supports. Be aware that not everyone has a “happy holiday”, some folks have a furnace or hot water heater that quits working, right when you need it the most. So maybe this is the year your company adapts a family at this time of year. Many of my clients solicit input from their customers using social media to select a family in need. You won’t have to look far.

4. Be financially ready for “millionaire weather”. You know, when it is 75 degrees daytime high, 57 at night. No heating or cooling needed. So you can just call the bank, let them know you will not be sending in the mortgage payment this month, weather was too nice! Better yet, keep in contact with your customers with newsletters or phone calls to avoid the low spots in revenue the perfect weather can create.

5. Don’t think of your suppliers as just a company that sends out a condensing unit or water heater when you order, think of them as partners. If that is not possible, find one you can trust that can be a partner. They have an advantage, they see a larger picture than you do, they know what is working with their network of hundreds of customers in the marketplace, some of which are larger and some are smaller than you.

6. Set aside time to build a business plan and marketing plan. Get help from your suppliers, business groups, heck, even those consultants that are found all around us today. Not optional, put together business plan that incorporates advertising and marketing to achieve company goals you have put together. Ideas you can discuss with your partners listed in number 4.

7. Take action! Yes, that is the really important item, none of this makes sense if you don’t act on it, so start acting on it! Today!