my thinking over the years exactly, unless you’re the cable guy or the plumber, who wants a first time service tech to go upstairs straight to your bedroom, comfort level wise
true, your area does have a lot of the 5+ mil homes, I understand what you are saying about that
reminds me of what an affluent customer ages ago told me as advice: “the larger and nicer the home, the fewer the people, 1 preferably”
yes, you are trying to find your sweetspot for future growth
I find it interesting Fish ended up at the lowest common denominator for the lowest risk nationwide employee based franchisees: storefront
lol
Exactly. And somewhere between there and the .01% house Caleb was discussing earlier is a (perhaps mythical) sweet spot, where training should be easier, but value can still be demonstrated and charged for.
it would be great to see the several bell curves on the same chart and which ones intersect where wouldn’t it?
were pretty much dealing with a psychographic, but the surrounding factors like home size low to high, income low to high, risk, demand, job type, frequency
as risk lowers, so does income, demand and home size
as income lowers, so does demand, home size and frequency (never, 15 years, etc)
as job type changes (home, condo, etc) so do the other factors
man this would be fascinating to see graphed out now that I think about it . . .
you know, like those home theatre calculators that you punch in the room size and it spits out all the other specs
punch in the risk (or another variable instead) and it spits out the income, job type, median job size and median income etc lol, that’d be great
exactly! that’s what i’m really starting to look for. i’m not sure i’m smart enough to track the data to find it though (see below)
do it!
What would you say would be the average pay for an employee from phase 1-4. ? Does there pay increase when they move phases ? Or do you guys do the +$1 every 6-12 months ? Would like to see the opinion of everybody . [MENTION=1736]JfromtheD[/MENTION] [MENTION=4695]Squeegee[/MENTION]ninja [MENTION=1377]Bruce[/MENTION] [MENTION=3418]michaelmole[/MENTION]
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We are window cleaning only, here’s how it generally goes for us:
New hire with no experience>
functional helper>1 Week
skilled technician, semi-independent>1 Month
skilled technician, completely independent>8-12 Months
skilled technician with leadership responsibilities> Priceless
I find the biggest challenges for training for me are that sometimes I wait too long to give them difficult tasks on jobs. Then they kind of cruise along doing lower/easy work while crew leaders are doing ladder work and the hard stuff, and the crew leader continues on that way because they want to get the job done faster and the new hire is not put in a position to become more skilled. It seems like when I do kind of just “throw guys into the fire” I think they’re doing well, only to find out later when going back to a job, that they didn’t do well, but there was no complaint so I didn’t know.
Another challenge, which I’m sure you guys are familiar with, is when new hires don’t listen, they just say, “yep, yep…” before you’ve even finished, I guess to prove they already know what you’re trying to tell them. Its extremely frustrating.
Excellent thread!
We are more heavily storefront so our training process is a little different than several residential companies here.
Helper - 1 month (minimum competence at store front water application, very basic squeegee technique)
Co-Captain - 3 months-? (This person has basic proficiency and has completed our certification course for leadership, driving course, and can interact competently with customers)
Team Captain - 6 months-? (This person can execute work well, interact with customers well, lead another team member, and is trained in sales.)
Route Executive - 1 year - ? (Responsible for organizing commercial route, handling customer complaints, training of support personnel, maintains database information, sales, maintains truck and equipment, salaried position)
Area Supervisor - Multi year - (Acts as a district manager and all that entails.)
We can hire and train for residential and commercial specifically. The residential qualified and certified Co-Captains and Team Captains happen much more quickly and are more easily managed than the commercial routes. Our power washing follows the same structure.
What we found is having a clear path with organized supervision and written qualification standards helps clarify expectations for all parties. It makes management a lot easier and following much less stressful. Everyone knows what to expect and how to move up in the company. If you have multiple services or even divisions this structure helps create an atmosphere of trust, and upward opportunity. This is all said much easier than done however! Lol.
Great thread
lol. Lets just say my COGS is very low.
I’m a different breed than the others here.
My main thing is reliability. It’s EVERYTHING to me.
Over the past 25 years, absenteeism has been the death of me.
- not only as an owner but as a co-worker.
So I reward the shit out of those who prove to be reliable.
A couple years ago, I spent a few months creating a roadmap, and in turn a philosophy, how to address it.
It ended up being a 14 page doc, including all charts/graphs. :o
Much of it was given to my guys(some full versions others partial) to help them understand their role in the growth of the company.
(and how it was of benefit to them, as a part of the company)
I’m ok with showing you guys parts of it, if you want to see the more serious side of JfromDetroit
- you can google it, it’s not ripped off anyone… they’re my original thoughts.
Let’s check it out
I’ve been doing some consulting, and the analogy I’ve been using is of pedals on a bike.
One pedal represents your customer development (marketing, sales, repeat business). The other pedal represents employee development (hiring, onboarding, training, promoting).
Most businesses who have been at least somewhat successful get handicapped by the employee pedal, more than the customer pedal.
The situation is especially difficult in a seasonal business like we have. It’s extremely important to be able to maximize revenue during the peak seasons, to drive the bike forward. Unfortunately that’s a very rare thing, because the employee pedal is holding back the acceleration of the bike far too often.
There’s tons and tons of causes of this. It’s a real problem that far too little thought is given to, across many industries. This thread has some really good discussion.
The other problem that you didn’t mention here is that these type of people/houses come in clusters, and they expand to fill as much percentage of your calendar as you allow them to. Meaning that it would be very easy for a one man show to get A LOT of work like this, if he got 3-5 of them to start with and did a good job. These people all run together, and word of mouth is the best, most effective way to break in to these type of communities.
Here’s the problem: if you allow your revenue to be largely (more than 25-40%) generated from customers like this, you are taking the life of your business into your hands every single day you walk onto a job. It only takes ONE irreplaceable afghan rug destroyed to cost you nearly every single one of those .01% houses it took years to acquire.
If your business isn’t built stably across more than just THIS particular customer psychographic, your risk is tremendous and you shouldn’t be able to sleep at night.
Completely agree on rewarding and highly commending a good and reliable employee.
I do think reliability is very important , you don’t want him all hung over when you got lots of jobs all line upped .
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This is so true , Chipotle is the perfect example of this . They exploded so fast , and only because of the good employees they have.
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Here’s the thing about the hangover.
When it’s 1 a.m. and I was out drinking I’d think to myself
“Oh, tomorrow is gonna suck. It’s the price you pay.”
(I still wouldn’t leave the bar, but I KNEW I would have to pay the next day)
Others will simply say “Who cares about tomorrow? f-it, I just wont go in.”
That’s where it would be twice as bad, being hungover myself, and my co-workers would “no show.”
here’s what can happen combining with other responses, is that someone can do this and that at level whatever and then do this or that at another level
BUT, they may not be meticulous, may not be socially discreet, may not work quietly inside a a home
and
may not be “anticapatory”, very important in this or any service biz, or may not grasp how things are built or go together or not mechanically inclined to fix things that happen
cleaning the glass is virtually a given
remember, reward what you want
this is always an issue if one goes by tenure only
someone can do low/easy work and make more than the guy who busted his but doing the extras and low pmh time to secure a new client
I have often thought jobs should be graded
employee gets the highest pay rate for doing that first time nightmare job with all the difficult stuff (high skill and high stamina, problem solving (engineering) and determination)
employee gets the least pay rate/commission for simple comml wpole jobs, low/easy work, repeat work etc
have a 1-5 grading system
instead everyone will be fighting to be a certified level 5 guy doing the hardest stuff around
reward what you really want/need
thats my take, its not just a glass/time formula to move someone forward
Alright. You got inside my head on this.
I need to explain why…
I have this little quirk where I refer to either myself or an employee as Michael Jordan.
- “Ok, I’m Jordan, just head on to the next move”
- “Alright Bob… you’re Jordan”
(This sounds so silly, I can’t believe I’m explaining it)
It refers to the idea that MJ was the guy you wanted taking the shot, when it counts… all eyes on him.
The “pressure is on”/“must make this shot” situation.
- The shitty move above the breakfast table, where all 6 family members are watching.
- the crazy setup that gives you 6 inches between some glass tables and a white 3 story curtain, whatever…
I’M typically the one I want to take that shot.
But it’s a reward, and it’s known throughout the crew, when I assign/give up that shot.
Does this make sense?!? :o
It makes sense MJ, your the shot caller!
There is another mistake that is often made that can really set up for trouble and a leadership bad habit.
Do not reward an employee as an incentive to improve. When they are doing a good job, however you define it, that then is when rewards, pay increases, etc. enter. If you reward behavior that is not as it ought to be you are trying to manipulate the person. Not only do they realize this, perhaps, only intuitively, but you have undermined your training and requirements. The end result will not be good no matter how well intended you are. The challenge is to be very clear on what actions warrant reward, attendance, longevity, consistent quality, responsibility, etc. Don’t undermine your own efforts by short cutting the correct order of things.
There are different pressures and elements of importance to each employee. An older employee will tend towards certain work profiles as will a single, young guy or girl. It helps to recognize those tendencies before the person is hired so that you have an idea of some of the pressures you are likely to face in the training process and work relationship.
Bruce, made an important and often overlooked point. Reward that behavior that you want and need. Don’t reward what you hope for.
