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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hire a Professional


This is directed to all of those folks who try to do everything in-house in order to save money.
Please pardon my sarcasm. However I think it is so funny how we, the folks in the business of plumbing and HVAC service and contracting, consistently repeat the mantra about hiring a professional to do a professional job. Yet I keep seeing things on the online forums asking questions like what equipment you need to edit videos for their website or to put on you tube!?! Really? Really!?! Do you have enough free time to start a video production business? Would you hire you to edit a video and pay your fee? It's just like saying; "What tools do you guys recommend to do home brain surgery?". If you want to create a professional looking video, and want it done right, hire a professional. I've seen some real train wrecks that were supposed to be a marketing or training video, but were made in-house. There are many great, low cost production companies out there, who will do it at a reasonable price. They are hurting for business and you can get a great deal now. I coach, speak and consult for a living in the area of my expertise, field service management. When my air conditioning stops working, I hire a professional, licensed contractor. When I need a video produced and edited, I hire a professional production company. When I need a direct mail campaign done, I pay a professional marketing and direct mail expert. Why do I hire professionals? Because my talents could be better used elsewhere, they will do a better job, and I am too expensive to do those things anyway.

I've had to get on several of my clients who try to do it all in house, print shop, direct mail, website development, customer satisfaction surveys, etc, one even printed and designed their own t-shirts (yes, they looked like it to). They do it simply because they cannot handle the idea of someone else making a profit off of something they believe they can do themselves.

I've even known one contracting business that spent over $80,000 when it was all done, trying to create their own service management software that never worked and had all kinds of problems, all of that, to try and save a few bucks. Believe me, you cannot compete with people who do it for a living everyday. Once you look at the internal costs and time spent trying to do something that you have minimal expertise in, you'll find you would have been better off hiring a professional.

Stop stressing yourself out trying to be everything and do everything. Yes, it does cost more to pay someone else, and it is okay for someone to make a profit off of you. Focus on what you do well, and do that.

Let's try to "Walk the Talk".

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Busy? Raise Your Prices!


I remember when I was in Marketing 101 in college and we discussed supply and demand. Below is a description from Wikipedia and how it describes the term "Supply and Demand":

The four basic laws of supply and demand are:
If demand increases and supply remains unchanged, then it leads to higher equilibrium price and quantity.
If demand decreases and supply remains unchanged, then it leads to lower equilibrium price and quantity.
If supply increases and demand remains unchanged, then it leads to lower equilibrium price and higher quantity.
If supply decreases and demand remains unchanged, then it leads to higher price and lower quantity.

The price P of a product is determined by a balance between production at each price (supply S) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand D). The diagram shows a positive shift in demand from D1 to D2, resulting in an increase in price (P) and quantity sold (Q) of the product.

So what am I trying to say, you ask? When was the last time you bought bread, milk or even gasoline and it stayed the same price every time you bought it? Prices for everything are constantly changing depending upon workload, inventory, customer demand and a volume of other factors. When is the last time you had a price change? Just like every other business you need to adjust your price depending upon demand. During busy times, raise your price 10 to 20%. During slow times offer a lower rate. You could even postpone major, time consuming jobs until business is slow provided you get a deposit and the customers equipment is still usable, to a time when you could use the work by offering the the discounted price.

I even adjust my workshop prices depending upon the popularity of that particular location, if you need certain state credits and my costs for that location. Look at my schedule at www.frankpresents.com and see for yourself.

What should you do? Well, if summer is your busy time, increase your price beginning Memorial Day weekend, then drop it back to normal after Labor Day. I've had some of my clients say things like "What if a customer finds out you just raised your price?" Okay, so agree and say "Yes, it's unfortunate how everything is going up, just yesterday it cost me almost $90 to fill up my truck. Hopefully it will go back down to a reasonable price this fall."

There you go, give it a shot and see what happens, yes you may lose some business, but odds are it will be the price shoppers anyway and if you raise your price 10% and lose 5% of your business, Great Job! Less Work, More Money!