I Quit This Job

If you ever volunteer for anything, I believe that your name is instantly uploaded into a vast global database where you will be “selected” for all manner of committees, appointments and an official clearinghouse for “stuff nobody else wanted to do.” 

At church, I volunteered for something harmless, like crayon sharpening for the nursery. Then the database was unleashed and I was appointed to 11 committees and took on a job for which I couldn’t have performed any worse: an usher. 

All you do is show people to their seat, right? Turns out I had to actually fire myself from this job. Things did not go all that well…

The Evils of Ushering “They” Never Told You About

For my ushering duties, it seemed I always walked too fast, went to the wrong side, was up too close or was somehow responsible for not saving enough spaces for a family reunion at two minutes ‘til the hour. Plus, the older ladies, many marinated in heady perfume, had “their” seats, and any soul unwittingly unaware had to be moved or face death-by-glaring. Bad way to go.

So I quit. 

I told the head usher that it was just too much, and though others did it with aplomb, I tended to spend the first 40 minutes feeling several pairs of eyes burning holes in my neck. (I feel sure if I’d not quit, he’d have told me they were “downsizing” anyway.)

What a relief. 

My next assignments from the Global Volunteer networks were: a) More carefully considered, b) IF accepted, it was after much scrutiny, c) Several times more rewarding. You gotta do what you’re good at, and quit doing what you’re not. To extract the most out of any project, idea or mission, you must focus your talents. There is great power in “no” if you are unsuited. It is also quite liberating.

Same with your business. You might be “ok” at accounting, and fair at administration, but fantastic at securing high dollar clients. Guess which job would pay you more to do, and which should be hired or assigned? 

Too many contractors adopt the “Why Hire If I Don’t Have To?” mindset. Those same contractors wonder why they “can’t ever reach the next level” or why customer service doesn’t improve, nor lead generation, nor retention rates, nor data errors… well, you get the point.

Also, attempting to do or be involved in “all things” often means this intense lack of specialization puts you in the same “average” compartment as everyone else skimming the surface. Case in Point:

SPECIALISTS, NOT GENERALISTS

             1. Two of the Latest Google Mysteries

Most everyone “assumes” that the top of Google rank is the place to be, right? As a surface-skimming marketer, you’d pursue this doggedly. Yet we found that:

Some contractors with a ‘Top of Google’ Result actually suffered. Why?

You can thank the “double jump.” Say you have a great Pay Per Click campaign, you “own” the top spot, and you’re all happy. A prospect sees your rank, clicks to a sometimes (actually often) amateur or drab site, then jumps back to 

Google to find a site that met his expectations.

You paid for the click and for sending him to the competition. (The solution to this is “High content SEO for your main site. Click for a no-cost Web Content Critique.)

Another phenomenon is since Google bought Zagat (the international “review” site), the “activity” of your listing helps govern ranking. So, if you’ve got a recent and horrible review, guess what?

You’re ranked high on Google in the most negative light imaginable.

These seemingly opposite effects are what happen when you “try” to do everything, not realizing the story-behind-the-story. There are countless marketing examples (such as me nearly fighting with the Yellow Pages for years because our “ugly” ads absolutely trounced their pathetic institutional versions.)

2. Where’s the Profit?

The “specialization” examples within your business – and mine – are nearly endless. For 11 years, I did the pay and bonus plans, which in time became cumbersome, unmotivating, hard to calculate. I “thought” I’d done a good job.

Yet, we recently had Sandy Steinman, author of, The Small Business Turnaround Guide, on a Coaching Call. (Most post-call click-throughs of ANY call.) He spoke about dynamic incentives that promote service, growth and profit.

After the call, I immediately hired Sandy – a “Profitability Expert” – to help us become more efficient, make staff more self-reliant, make our meetings shorter and install a significant incentive that has staff energized like no time in recent history. This is all designed to free me up for more time to drive thoroughly irresponsible cars with my newly empty-nested wife. His focus and his expertise have been life-altering. I “thought” I knew what I was doing. 

Excel Where You’re Strong – Hire Where You’re Weak 

I leave you with the power to say “no” to things you’re not good at. Others are out there, with expertise priced far below what you’ll save in dollars, time, stress… and holes glared into your neck. 

Adams Hudson will be conducting a HVAC Marketing Breakthrough: 6 Steps to 7 Figures Video Training Series next 

month (July 18, 2013). You’ll hear AND SEE the richest Case Studies, techniques, and red-hot marketing strategies ever compiles for ONline and OFFline. PLUS, 3 no-cost video downloads and samples throughout. You MUST PRE-REGISTER to get on the advance notification list. Limited to the first 255 contractors who get in.

This Costliest Fear In Sales...

It still amazes me. “Service” is a noun, a verb, and a calling. If you believe that last one, there’s a hidden version of service that will make some of you bristle. But first…

We all rail on the car repair place who forgot it was wrong to charge someone $480 for headlight fluid and waxing the spare tire. Their antics go on public display in negative reviews. 

We are irked at the cable company who told us to wait “Sometime between this Tuesday and next April” for the cable dude to appear and hit the red reset button.

We go murderous at being transferred to 4 different “Customer Disservice Representatives” to tell the exact same story. Each transfer grinds on for 10 minutes of recordings that they are “Presently serving other customers”.

Then there is a “hidden version” of bad service where we’re not told that for a little more money we could’ve gotten what we actually wanted. It’s called selling, and it is also a service.

I recently told of a minor house “freshening” where nearly every tradesperson in town stopped by to shake me upside down while readying our home for a historic tour.

How to Not Choose a Contractor

In essence, the “I can do it cheaper” guys all reeked of incompetence. The beat up truck, the lack of business card, logo’d estimate or invoice, the uncertainty of what was included, and the “I’ll get back to you’s” all added up to something hugely avoidable. I do not flaunt overspending; but I do like value. Service dear friends, is value.

The tradespeople who offered decipherable tiered pricing generally got me to the 2nd or 1st level of their offer. The smart landscaper correctly identified my wife’s “pain” and offered a nearly “do all” service at roughly double the “mow, blow, and go” guy while she gets to work on the fun part of landscaping. (To me, the fun part of landscaping is seeing it done by someone else.)

A Profitable Perspective

I tell you these things to encourage you from a homeowner perspective. Tell them what solves their problem, even if it’s not the way you or your techs “buy”. That doesn’t matter. You solve the problem, and a few more while you’re at it, charging as is appropriate. That’s not “just” selling, because friend, good selling is service.

The poor HVAC company that installed the system at our lake house just never “got it”. Every year – since we don’t live there year round – I’d ask, “Do you have a Maintenance Agreement program so I won’t have to think about this?” and the answer was the same, “Nope. Might get one. Just call us when you need us.” I’d respond, “Can you put it on your calendar to remind me that it’s time for service?” and they’d say, “Well, we could do that I guess,” more like an imposition than an agreement. And did they? Not once in 5 years.

Dumb me. I thought they were the only game in town (since it is kind of remote).

I saw a billboard – yes, a lowly, utterly low-tech billboard – that had another HVAC company name for the area. Professional logo, good tagline, and a memorable phone number. So my wife called.

Oh my.

Dollars, Dreams, and Sales Delivery

She was elated. The company was courteous. Started 3 years ago by two young, motivated friends with a vision. Now with a handful of eager employees catching that vision, one of whom showed up exactly on time, in a clean truck and crisp uniform. Check this out as she retold it:

He complimented my wife on keeping a neat home. Said he understood how hard it was to maintain a house by long distance. He remarked that doing this well was a lot harder than most people realized. (Can you hear the “sale as a service” set up coming?)

She asks, “Do you have a maintenance agreement program?” At this point, the harp music started, and a chorus broke through the sunlit clouds as he answered, “Yes, which level do you think you and your husband would prefer?”

In fifteen minutes, we forgot 5 years of prior disappointment and amateur dismissal. And in those same minutes, we got a 2-year plan, which allowed us a discount on a “Smart Thermostat” that Kevin – our new most favorite HVAC technician in the entire world – said was the one he’d put in his home. Because…

“I know how hard it is to remember to adjust the temperature every time we left or arrived. Plus, those first couple hours can be uncomfortable. And ‘forgetting’ just one time between long visit intervals could nearly pay for the thermostat.”

The delivery was so good I almost wept. And it was true, every word.

I’m out about $840 in total. My next-door neighbors – with identical complaints – are about to be. And the company who never “got it” will soon be wondering why an ever-increasing number of customers on this side of the lake don’t call them anymore.

“Must be the economy,” they’ll mutter. Right. The economy of economy that created their own personal recession.

Selling is a service. Let no one tell you differently.

Adams Hudson

NOTE: Adams Hudson will be head presenter at the 3rd annual “Next Level Contractor” online conference event this October. This LIVE event is delivered 100% online, and comes with a neat library of training videos. Click here to be put on the “Advance Notice Invitation List” and to help DESIGN the program that solves YOUR marketing and sales problem. Forward this ezine to your distributor, member groups, and discussion boards to get them involved. Strictly held to 440 attendees. - See more at: http://salesandmarketinginsider.com/article-it-is-still-regularly-amazing-to-me.html#anchor