Taste the Freedom

By Lisa Schardt, Nexstar® Network Business Enhancement Specialist

Nothing says Freedom more than jumping into your sports car of choice, for me it’s a cherry red Miata convertible, and cruising down the open road. You have no agenda and no deadlines; it’s just you, the road and the time to see where that road takes you.

Sounds fantastic right? Now imagine being able to feel that freedom when it comes to running your business. Most owners I talk with think they have to do it all – from finding good employees, to buying office supplies, to doing the business advertising. These owners are so busy being busy that they don’t have time to think.

If this sounds like you, and you’re ready for a change, it’s a simple, but a smart solution:

1. Find the right people
2. Train them correctly
3. Empower them
4. Let them do their jobs

Voila! Freedom! I know. Those four steps sound hard, and I assure you that it will take hard work. But the results – increased sales, increased profits and freedom — are well worth the effort.

The road to this success doesn’t have to be lonely. Nexstar® has experienced business coaches who specialize in business management, business marketing, and customer service or call center training who can walk you through each step. We have even launched the first of its kind in this industry Training Accountability Program. Julian Scadden, our new training implementation specialist, arms the managers who send staff in for Nexstar technician training with the resources, tools and support to make the training come to life in their business.

I wake up every morning and have the privilege of working at Nexstar, truly helping people change their lives and find the freedom they have earned. If you are ready to learn from the RIGHT kind of network call me at 888.240.STAR (7827).

I’ll see YOU on the open road!

First Jump Different, Then Jump Higher
By Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio

In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Sales Training Manager Keith Mercurio talks about the power of thinking and doing outside of the box to achieve better results. Be an innovator!  Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.

Simple But Not Easy
By Jack Tester, Nexstar® Network President & CEO

In 2008, I was sitting next to a very successful contractor in a Nexstar manager training class discussing how to increase conversion rate and average sale. The material in the class was spot on. The business system for how to achieve success was laid out, clear as could be. The impact available from consistent technician training, business coaching and accountability was clearly evident. All the class attendees were nodding their heads in agreement. Everyone was planning to go home and implement what they were learning into their own strategic plan.

Toward the end of the training segment, this successful contractor leaned over and said that it was his training routine, company-wide accountability and personal involvement in this area that was, in his mind, the secret to their success.

He claimed his primary responsibility was to make sure important sales management activities were properly executed every day in his company. In his next breath, he closed by saying that sales management success (increasing conversion rate and average sale) was “simple but not easy” – a profound statement and one that has stuck with me.

“Simple but not easy…  Simple but not easy…”

What are those activities in your business that are simple but not easy for you to execute every day? Are you giving them the business systems and the training they need to perform those tasks? Does everyone in your business know what is expected from them every day and why they need to do it?

If your answer isn’t “yes” to all three of these then you have some work to do. It is simple work, but not easy work. Nexstar members work with their dedicated business coaches to establish their “recipe” for success. Once that is created, then it’s easier to just follow the recipe. To learn more visit www.nexstarnetwork.com or call 1-888-240-STAR (7827).

Bundling: The Art of Increasing Tickets & Close Rates

By Keith Mercurio, Nexstar® Network Training Manager

I work with so many contractors in the PHCE industries that work incredibly hard and put in excruciating hours to complete as many calls as they can in a day. These contractors have been “trained” by customers to only present the least expensive, lowest value option, which means that the only way to increase sales and profits is to fit as many calls into a single day as they can. As we all know, this is exhausting.

What I try to teach instead in my HVAC, Plumbing and electrical service technician training is that we first need to listen to our customers and then present a number of options at different values that each meet our customers’ needs. This technique is called bundling. Bundling is one of my favorite topics to talk about because it’s a genuine “art”. To learn how to present bundles requires a lot of training, time, AND faith because the shift in your thinking will be significant.

Bundling is critical to increase your close rates and your average tickets. It’s a complicated concept, but I feel it is so important that I have condensed it into three easy points to help introduce the process.

1. Reduce the Number of Value Decisions Needed by Customers

2. Create the Emotional Ownership for Customers

3. Make Your Medium Option Bigger

When you are ready to embrace the bundling concept, be assured it will take some creativity and some coaching from a peer or industry organization, such as Nexstar. You’ll have to decide how you can best bundle multiple tasks and assign one value to them based on your business plans and your market. But if you are looking for increased close rates and tickets – bundling is the business system you need to learn and implement now.

Learn more about my three steps to effective bundling in the April issue of HVACR Business. To learn more about training your technicians on the art of bundling and the right way to call on customers, visit www.nexstarnetwork.com or call 1-888-240-STAR (7827).

About the Author:

Keith Mercurio is the training manager for Nexstar® Network, training members on sales, customer service and motivation in the field. Before joining Nexstar, he worked within a Nexstar member company, first as a plumber, then developing an HVAC sales division that produced 3.7 million within the first two years, while incorporating many of the same techniques he teaches today.

N’Ts Are For Losers
By Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio

In this week’s video blog, Nexstar Training Manager Keith Mercurio talks about the power of what we do inside our minds and how that translates to the outside world. He shows you how to find what you are looking for by changing your thinking and vocabulary. Stop using the N’Ts:  CaN’T, WoN’T, DoN’T, ShouldN’T, etc.  Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.

Choose to Win!
By Jim Hamilton, Nexstar® Network Business Coach
Independent home services business owners across America wake up every day with the pressure of making their business work. Some wake up with the added pressure of making their business better than last year. Some even step up the anxiety level a notch or two with the pressure of making their business better than everyone else’s. I don’t know where your head is in the game, but, my guess would be that you fall in here somewhere, and guess what? That’s your choice.

Your business is about what you choose it to be.  It’s your choice.

Easy to say, hard to do, right? Again, that’s your choice. If you believe it will be hard to do, you’ll be right because you’ll let it impact your success. Good results, like increased revenue and increased profits, take hard work and reoccurring good results take focus. Choose to focus on setting up a business that runs on reoccurring predictable processes.

CHOICE – Work smarter.

You can work hard and work your fingers to the bone because you think you should. After all, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it, right? What you really should also do is work smarter. Working smarter means you’re documenting your successful business systems and redesigning the unsuccessful ones. Organizations like Nexstar® Network can provide you with proven business solutions, and even business coaching and training, to help you improve your business.

CHOICE – Choose to make it a great year.

Choose to make the most out of this year. When you see roadblocks in your way; don’t sit there and complain that you can’t bust through them because, because, because… Anyone can make excuses. You can make things happen. It’s your Choice. You choose how to make your business better. Don’t let anyone choose that for you. You are in control. If your business succeeds, it’s because of you! To get more of my Bottom Line on how to choose to win, see my column in April’s Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine.

For information on Nexstar, contact membership@nexstarnetwork.com or call 1-888-240-STAR (7827).

Are You an Effective Leader?

By Bill Raymond, Owner Frank & Lindy Plumbing, Heating & AC, Nexstar® Network Master Trainer

When I think about leadership, my thoughts first turn to all those “bad” leaders I’ve had over the course of my career. One was too tough on me, another one didn’t value me, and one didn’t give me any opportunities to grow. Think about your worst experiences with leaders. They probably include a few of the behaviors listed below.

Top 10 Poor Leadership Behaviors

10. Lacking personal characteristics (honesty, integrity, trustworthy, humility, etc.)
9. Lacking clear vision and purpose
8. No passion for what you do
7. Limited competence (intellectual and emotional)
6. Leading by poor example
5. Lacking interpersonal and communication skills
4. No continued focus on learning and growth
3. Inability to think strategically
2. Hiring the wrong people
1. Lacking accountability and inability to admit and/or learn from mistakes.

I know we’ve all worked for leaders who have these traits. These leaders are ineffective and don’t create a positive work culture. My challenge for you today, as a business owner and leader in the PHCE industries, is to take a look at your own leadership style and do what you can to make sure you are NOT doing the behaviors above.

But what if you are doing one or two of those behaviors? I am here to assure you, great leaders are not born they are made. Leadership lessons can be learned. It takes work, but you can learn how to be an effective, and even a great, leader.

Why is it important to be a great leader? It starts with understanding what leadership is. Simply, leadership is defined as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

Put in the context of your HVAC, Plumbing or Electrical business, it means YOUR behavior and the environment YOU create guide the behaviors of YOUR team! In essence, creating YOUR culture!

Effective Leaders are consistent with their decision-making and understand how their thinking and behaviors impact others’ behaviors and ultimately the culture of their organization.

As an effective leader, you will be better equipped to create a strategic business plan, keep good employees, provide staff training and development, and ultimately increase sales and profits.

Isn’t that what being a leader is all about? Nexstar® Network understands the success of a business relies on the effectiveness of its leader. I am excited to help launch the first Leadership for Owners course in November 2013 for Nexstar members.

To learn more about the training Nexstar offers or how to join, call 1-888-240-7827 or email: membership@nexstarnetwork.com.

“Translate The Jargon”
By Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch

Nexstar Master Trainer Dave Boduch discusses technical jargon and how using words that your customers will understand will help you build trust and better relate to your customers. Click on the photo to play the video. To learn more about Nexstar’s results-driven training: http://www.nexstarnetwork.com/Pages/SureFireSystems.aspx.

Do you have a network? How about a group of other business people that you reach out to for answers or advice? If you answered yes, then that’s a great start right? Now ask, how many times have you actually listened to their advice or followed their suggestions?

Why not? If you’re not a member of a business network organization, my guess is you have created a peer group that helps you look your best. Maybe they are less smart than you…with fewer years of experience. Maybe they are as good as you, but they tell you things you already know. If you are satisfied with your current business and personal fulfillment, then that “network” probably works for you. But, if you know your good business can be great, you want to increase sales and profit, or if you are ready to enjoy the life you’ve built, then you probably need a more powerful network.

I am blessed to work for Nexstar Network, a leading business to business networking organization for independent home services contractors. Nexstar’s original mission was “success through education and sharing” and to help contractors operate out of a position of confidence, rather than a position of fear. Sounds nice right? But does it really happen that way? Absolutely!

Recently, I attended our service technician training at a member’s shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was completely moved by the site of nine local member trucks sharing a parking lot – as well as the 28 eager technicians from those shops teaming up to share and learn together. They put aside any thoughts of competition (from that place of fear) and really helped each other become better technicians and better businesses (now from that place of confidence). It was a truly an amazing experience, that is already producing results.

Nexstar Network Service Technician Training in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nexstar Network Service Technician Training in Minneapolis, Minnesota

This business training was the perfect example of the power of networking – which will also be evident later this week when more than 225 of Nexstar’s members gather at our Owners’ Spotlight Series in New Orleans. This leadership focused meeting will help guide owners from business management to effective leadership.

I am already the luckiest person in the world. I wake up every morning and have the privilege of working at Nexstar, truly helping people change their lives. But what I am most grateful for today, and what is truly inspiring, is how, twenty years later, our great members still embody our founding mission of “success through education and sharing”. If you are ready to learn from the RIGHT kind of network call me at 888.240.STAR (7827).

Right Here, Right Now!
By Jim Hamilton, Nexstar® Network Business Coach

It’s the end of March. It’s not really winter. It’s not really spring. So what is this season?

Shoulder season?
Slow season?
Poor cashflow season?
Why am I doing this season?
This too shall pass season?
I knew it was coming season?
I thought it would be different this time season?
I’m losing my best employees season?
Low conversion season?
What can I do season?

Does this sound familiar? How can you stop this insanity right here and right now? I’m going to give you some tips that you can use each year during this season. This season pops up every year, let’s be honest, it happens. You need to have the right business systems and a strong strategic plan in place to respond rather than react.

• Here’s what I want you to do:
  - Do an assessment of all your employees from the past season
  - Ask yourself these questions: Do they need technician training or call center training? Do they have the right ability? Are they willing?
  - Then get rid of unwilling people. Right here, Right now. Don’t carry unwilling people through, but don’t cut the muscle.
  - How do you keep good employees? You carry your good service technicians and installers by scheduling system checks. If calls aren’t coming in, make outbound calls to check systems. Get your technicians in front of your customers and explore the needs they have.
• Train Your People. Training your people will help you keep employees and benefit you when times are plentiful AND when you need to increase revenue.
• Take Inventory – make sure the inventory in your trucks is right. Get ready now. Make sure your trucks are stocked. For HVAC operations, that is particularly important for the upcoming changeover in your seasons.
• Cleaning – “Nice truck…”
  - Nothing does a better job at undermining your consumer marketing than when your technician opens the door and things fall out. You have the time, right here, right now. Get the trucks cleaned.
  - Clean your office – you know who you are. Ask yourself, would your mother work in your office?
• Know your break even.
  - If you don’t know your break even, how do you know if you’re making profit every day? Business owners who need assistance with business budgeting should seek out business training that will help them learn this concept. Companies that are members of organizations like Nexstar, have access to both business systems and business coaches who are available any time to help walk through this process.
• Consider buying a business.
  - If buying a business is part of your strategic business plan to expand in the market – now is the perfect time to look for businesses to buy. Your competitors are going through the same things, right now, and many are rethinking their options.
• Set up a business planning workshop.
  - Identify the changes you PLAN to make and share the financial overview of your business with your entire team. How can your team work toward a common goal, if not everyone knows or understands what that financial goal is?

Start responding and stop reacting. Responding requires you to have a plan – a plan for what you are going to do. Start planning.

Right here, right now.