By Jim Hinshaw I recently had a flight to Philly and met an airline attendant that could change the face of flying. Now, I realize that some of you may wonder, what does a flight attendant have to do with my business in the plumbing industry. But I had an encounter with a flight attendant Read more
Biz Tips
By Jim Hinshaw
I recently had a flight to Philly and met an airline attendant that could change the face of flying. Now, I realize that some of you may wonder, what does a flight attendant have to do with my business in the plumbing industry. But I had an encounter with a flight attendant on a US Airways flight that was stunning and the lesson applies to all of us as well.
My son, Mike and I were flying out of Denver on a direct flight to Philadelphia with carry-on bags only. I travel all the time so I have a good idea of what will and will not fit in the overhead bins. My bag always fits unless it’s a small commuter jet. However, this was a brand new Airbus 321. And I mean so brand new it still had the new plane smell to it just like when you buy a brand new car. Mike and I sat in seats 12C and 12D, across from each other and right where we wanted to be with both having aisle seats. For clothing I was wearing my travel uniform and an Under Armor shirt to keep warm. As we walked in, and attendant named Jeff challenged me about my baggage. He said, rather loudly and firmly, “Hay, Under Armor, put that carry on down!”, as if in demand without request. I kindly protested and said, “I know it will fit, I’ve done this many times before”. Jeff asked, “What seat are you in?” And I responded, “12C.” He said, “I’ll put it up for you.” Now, it took me a minute to understand that comment since I would never have imagined that phrase coming out of the mouth of a flight attendant. So I said, “Great, that would be just great” and handed over my bag. He then asked me if I wanted my briefcase up there next to the carryon as well! I thought, wow, It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Jeff was a middle-aged guy, but looked to be in good shape. He turned to my son and said, “where ya sitting?” Mike told him, 12D, and once again Jeff said, “I’ll put those bags up for you.” So he was not simply doing a mercy bag lift for an old guy like me, he did it for everyone, young or old. In fact, as the rest of the passengers came down the aisle, he lifted each bag up. About 200 bags or so in all. I had a chance to chat with Jeff later on because it was a 4 hour flight, and found out some things. He lives in Phoenix, and enjoys working out but isn’t able to make it to the gym like he used to. So now he works out in a way by lifting bags on each flight instead. That equates to lifting about 30 pounds approximately 200 times each flight and about 3 flights per day. That could be as much as lifting 18,000 lbs. per day. Now I am aware that lifting bags on a plane is not the same as a 150 lb barbell, but it’s still quite an exercise.
I told Jeff that if word got out, he would ruin it for flight attendants all over the world. He laughed and said not much chance because no one knows him. I told him I would do all I could to change that because he made such a positive impression on Mike and I.
So you may think this is a one in a thousand flight experiences and will never happen again, right? Mike and I flew back on United and had another encounter that was just as amazing. We got on and sat in the back of the plane this time in row 22. When the food cart came by during the flight, Mike ordered an item and I said, “I’ll pick it up.” The flight attendant responded, “Nope. It’s on me!” Another WOW moment in an already marvelous trip. And It gets even better. About 2.5 hours into our 4 hour flight, Mike and I went to the rear of the plane to use the facilities. A couple of passengers and the two flight attendants were standing there chowing down on more of the food, etc. Now when Mike and I travel, we always like to chat with the attendants to find out where they’re from and when they’re going home etc. A woman in an exercise suit asked what we wanted to eat or drink. We thought she was a flight attendant off duty or something and perhaps heading back home. Not so as she was just another passenger. The flight attendants asked us what we wanted. We replied with what we wanted and I went to pull my credit card out when they both said, “It’s on us! No charge!” Those are generous and inspirational words to hear when you are on the road. We stood back there and talked with them for about an hour. It really was a memorable trip for us. After a while, a 2 year old boy came running back being chased by his dad. We ended up playing with the boy for 10 minutes while his dad had a chocolate bar. And you guessed it, he got one for free!
Is there an application for our industry? I believe so. Let every employee know that they are in charge of customer relations for your company. They’re basically your ambassadors in a way. Anyone who has any interaction with customers are part of the sales team and contribute to the perception of the company. IT takes just one person to make someone feel good or bad about a company. After getting home, my wife asked how the trip went? I told her it was unbelievable. She asked me to clarify since unbelievable can go either way. I said it was unbelievably good. Both US Airways and United are high on my list of companies I want to do business with simply because of the actions of a few employees.
So while it may be just another install to the installation, they must make it special for every customer And I want to be clear about something. I’m not saying you have to give away your products and services, but you do have to connect with the customer and connection with them emotionally and positively. That is how business is done today. As an example, I had a horrible flight out of New York a few years ago on a small commuter jet heading back home. Except we never made it home. We ended up with a mechanical problem and landed in Philly I think. However, they would not let us off the plane as we sat there for 3 hours. Then when they did let us off, we had to go into the boarding area only and could not leave because we were going right back out. It was a horrible experience. We got back on the plane where it took 6 long hours to go the rest of the way as we at on the runway for another 2 hours. Guess which airline? The same one we flew last month. So I had made a mental decision not to fly them ever again. I can count on one hand the number of trips I have taken with them in the last 5 years actually. However, this one employee, Jeff, changed my mind completely. He made me realize that one person can make a difference both good and bad.
You see, it’s not about giving away your products and services, it’s always the extras that are so unexpected that people remember. Everyone “expects” good service from everyone today. It’s the small things, even a free soda or candy bar. The airlines weren’t in the business of selling food or free baggage lifts but in air travel sales. But it was the generosity in the baggage lifts and small food items that made the difference. Is it not worth it to give a way a soda or candy bar sometimes when passengers are spending a few hundred dollars for a flight sometimes? The cost is peanuts compared to the reward of more passengers. This same principal applies to contractors and your business as well.
One employee can connect with the consumer, and they will feel good about your company because of what that one person does. So let your employees know how valuable they are in the process of keeping customers. Because they are.
Thanks, for listening, we’ll talk later.
California contractors can now use a new home energy assessment software. OptiMiser, an advanced energy modeling and reporting tool, has passed CalTEST for use in the California Home Upgrade program beginning in 2015. The California Home Energy Upgrade program was recently overhauled to enable better energy savings projections, more consistent incentive calculations, and better overall Read more
California contractors can now use a new home energy assessment software. OptiMiser, an advanced energy modeling and reporting tool, has passed CalTEST for use in the California Home Upgrade program beginning in 2015.
The California Home Energy Upgrade program was recently overhauled to enable better energy savings projections, more consistent incentive calculations, and better overall customer service. As part of the program improvements, the CalTEST software qualification system will allow contractors providing energy assessments and energy improvement retrofits to use advanced software tools that meet rigid quality standards. OptiMiser is one of the first such tools to be approved for the soft launch of the improved California Home Upgrade program beginning January 1, 2015. That will be followed by a full launch on or about April 1, 2015.
OptiMiser software is built from the ground up to make it easier for home performance professionals to sell jobs and perform energy efficiency work. OptiMiser is designed to jump through as many regulatory hoops as possible for contractors while also offering full support for complex home performance measures.
OptiMiser has been at the forefront of the developments in the CalTEST implementation, partnering with the program for model verification and HPXML (data standards) implementation.
“We see the developments in California as an important step forward in our industry. Leif Magnuson, Matt Golden, and the utilities and implementers in California are initiating a visionary switch in our industry to energy efficiency programs that can be driven by real results. At OptiMiser, we believe performance evidenced by empirical results has to drive our industry and we are thrilled to be at the vanguard of this sea change led by California.”
– Andy Bardwell, CEO of OptiMiser
The California launch follows on the heels of similar program changes in Arizona and New York. In Arizona, OptiMiser partnered with Arizona Public Service (APS) and EnergySavvy to deliver an energy auditing software solution for their Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program. Less than a year after the APS launch, over 95% of audits under the program rely on OptiMiser’s powerful and accurate energy analysis.
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By Robert Hall There’s no way around it: Running a business in the plumbing industry means a lot of time on the road. You and your personnel drive to and fro between jobs in order to service different locations. On any one day, you may have several plumbers out at the same time, and keeping Read more
By Robert Hall
There’s no way around it: Running a business in the plumbing industry means a lot of time on the road. You and your personnel drive to and fro between jobs in order to service different locations. On any one day, you may have several plumbers out at the same time, and keeping track of everyone’s location and projects can be tough. That’s where GPS comes in. Designed to seamlessly, conveniently track your vehicles’ locations and travel times, a Global Positioning System gives you real-time information on where your plumbers are and when. Consider some of the top benefits that come from GPS tracking for plumbing companies like yours:
Streamlined Travel Times
- When you’re constantly driving from one job to another the way plumbers do, you can’t afford to waste time getting lost on back roads or turned around in a new area. GPS
gives you step-by-step directions that ensure services can be provided faster and more efficiently. What’s more, streamlining travel means you can save on wasted fuel costs, too.
Better Appointment Estimates
- It’s much easier to tell a customer what time a plumber will arrive when you have built-in technology that can pinpoint his or her location at any moment. With GPS, saying, “We’ll be there in 20 minutes,” is a promise you can make with confidence, backed by technology.
Monitored Activity
- GPS puts you in the know about where your vehicles are at all times. Want to know which plumbers are taking the longest on jobs and which ones are working most quickly? Ready to see firsthand when employees are missing jobs or wasting hours? GPS gives you real-time insight into your plumbing business.
Validated work hours
- When a client disputes the time spent on a job, GPS gives you a simple, convenient way to prove hours of service. Simply pull up the tracked time that you or one of your service people arrived and left the job site, and you have evidence to back up your work.
Prevention of theft or loss
- Your vehicles and the assets they carry can be some of your most expensive investments, so finding ways to prevent their theft, loss, or damage is crucial. With GPS you have a built-in way to track your cars or trucks, so that it’s easier than ever to recover vehicles from theft. What’s more, you can see where your vehicles have been and are going, making it easier to track down where damage occurred or the location of a missing vehicle.
The fact is, GPS offers all kinds of benefits to plumbing businesses. From less wasted time on the road to more productive employees to the prevention of vehicle theft, these benefits add up to significant cost savings. This means that GPS is about more than tracking trucks and cars; it’s about boosting your bottom line. By implementing GPS in your company vehicles, you set your business up to be as effective, efficient, and successful as poss
Robert Hall is president of Track Your Truck, a privately held company that provides service businesses with fleet tracking solutions.
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by Jim Hinshaw I was listening to Zig Zigler this week in something called “Automobile University”. That is where you listen to a CD that will improve your mind while driving back and forth to the airport. Zig passed away in 2012, but his thoughts and instructions are timeless and still current. On the CD Read more
by Jim Hinshaw
I was listening to Zig Zigler this week in something called “Automobile University”. That is where you listen to a CD that will improve your mind while driving back and forth to the airport. Zig passed away in 2012, but his thoughts and instructions are timeless and still current.
On the CD, he tells the story of a woman who reaches out to him, saying he is the only one who can help. She is miserable at work, everyone is an idiot and she hates her job and co-workers. So she tells Zig’s secretary she must meet him. He agrees, and on his next trip through her part of the world, he meets her behind the curtain, a few minutes before he is to go on stage to discuss his sales program. She was exasperated and apparently thought she would get a couple of hours of counseling that wasn’t going to happen. Zig is clear with her, he is not a therapist, but he does understand human nature.
So he asks her if she brought a notebook to take notes. She did and Zig responds with “Start taking notes.” She says, “Right now, here, behind the curtain?” He replied, “Yes, now.” He tells her that in 100% of the people he talks to, if you don’t take the first step, you won’t take the second! So she reluctantly pulls out a notebook and starts writing. He asks her to list the positive things about her job. But she says “That’s a short list and I can’t think of one thing.” He keeps on pushing: “Do they pay you regularly?” “Yes.” She says. “Is it a fair wage?” “Actually, above the market for my tasks.” The woman replies. “Do you have an insurance plan?” And again she responds “Yes.” Zig asks her yet another question “How about holiday pay?” And again she says “Yes.” By the time they were done, she had a list of over 20 items that were positive about her job.
Zig tells her to look at that list every morning, to read it out loud, every day, and see what happens. A few months later, she is sitting in the front row of another one of his meetings, smiling big. She tells him that the most wonderful thing happened, those people she works with have changed! She says “They are not so bad afterall, in fact, they are wonderful.”
Zig’s point is simple. When we want to change our spouse, kids, parents, bosses, co-workers, employees, and even our customers, the one who really can affect that change is us! It’s so simple yet profound. We are in charge of everything that happens to us, good and bad. Yes I hear many say “Jim, we can’t control the weather, the economy, and our employee’s actions.” That is correct, but we can control our response to all of those. Did you know that sailors can navigate across the water in a sailboat no matter which way the wind is blowing? To be clear, I am not a sailor. However, if I were on a sailboat, I would want the person sailing it to understand how the wind works, and be able to get to our destination no matter the weather.
So the message is simple but hard to do. When you are faced with a uncooperative person, perhaps one you work for or one that works for you, or if you’re just not happy with your job, plan on concentrating on the positive aspects of the relationship and the work. We all want to blame the economy, the weather, or any other outside force for our trials and tribulations. When has that ever helped? It turns out what we think about becomes the course of our actions, the actions become habits, and the habits become our character, our DNA in a way. The very element that moves us to do what we do.
This became clear to me one evening after we had great family time and shared a couple of birthdays with a huge crab boil. It was not anything specific that happened, but the time I had to reflect on how great it is to have a family that can talk and share feelings together. After dinner, I discussed this with my sons and it became clear that I should share this timeless advice about focusing on the positives. I have no idea what any of you are going through personally, but in the last couple of weeks I have seen multiple requests for prayer from my Facebook connections. Most have been from from family with several about jobs, and employment. So I am sending this out with my thoughts and prayers for your success both in family, work and health to give you encouragemnent. One of the other speakers on my CD is a man named Jim Rohn. He says that evidence has shown that what we think about has more effect on our health than exercise, diet, or even our genes. That’s powerful stuff. So consider an assignment for yourself this week, to dwell on positive things. Anything positive counts and simply stuff those negative thoughts aside by replacing them with positive ones.
And by the way, this is the Christmas season. A perfect way to be positive is to do something special for someone else this season. And better yet if they cannot offer anything in return. Perhaps by visiting a nursing home, calling a loved one miles away, thanking a veteran, or visiting someone in need or a friend at a hospital. If want to see someone light up with joy, surprise them with a hospital visit. You can even visit and bring joy to someone who is without a family to care and love them, especially during Christmas. I have gone into hospitals and asked a nurse, who is lonely this time of year? They will gladly direct you. If you are not able to pray with a patient, you could even simply thank the nurses and doctors you see and let them know you appreciate them. They probably did not want to work on Christmas day, but someone has to. It will be a blessing. Thanks, we will talk later.
FYI – On Zig Ziglar’s web site you can buy yourself or a friend a book.
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As a PHVAC professional, you need to carry a lot of tools and parts with you to each jobsite and keeping everything organized is key to the success of your business. You don’t want to show up to a client’s home just to fumble around in the back of your van looking for Read more
As a PHVAC professional, you need to carry a lot of tools and parts with you to each jobsite and keeping everything organized is key to the success of your business. You don’t want to show up to a client’s home just to fumble around in the back of your van looking for a specific wrench. Not only does that level of disorganization decrease your efficiency, but it can potentially harm your reputation as a professional, reliable PHVAC service provider.
With Adrian Steel’s Ford Transit Upfit Package for PHVAC Professionals, you don’t have to worry about a disorganized work van. Designed with PHVAC professionals’ needs in mind, the upfit package provides innovative cargo management solutions to keep all of your tools and equipment organized and secure during transportation.
PHVAC Upfit Package Features
By investing an upfit package, you can be sure that you’re getting an upfit that is tried-and-true by hundreds of professionals in your industry. The PHVAC Upfit Packages vary depending on the Transit model that you’re upfitting, however all packages include the following elements:
- Three ADseries adjustable shelving units measuring 44″ wide, 59″ tall, 14″ deep and an accompanying rail kit
- Divider kit to create even more organization options within your shelving
- Door kit to transform a shelf into a secure, lockable cabinet
- Multiple drawer units featuring Adrian Steel’s exclusive Lock ‘N Latch system to keep your tools stored away safely
- A Partition with door and wing kit separates the cab from the cargo area, increasing passenger safety, organization, and improving climate control
- The welded tank rack and tank rack adapter is the perfect solution for storing those tough-to-transport tanks
- A three hook bar can be utilized to store cords and other wires that may get tangled
View PHVAC Packages for all 2015 Transit Models
130” Wheelbase Low Roof | 148” Wheelbase Low Roof
130” Wheelbase Medium Roof | 148” Wheelbase Medium Roof
148” Wheelbase High Roof | 148” EXT Wheelbase High Roof
About Adrian Steel Company
Established in 1953, Adrian Steel Company designs and manufactures cutting-edge, reliable cargo management solutions for cargo vans, trucks, trailers, and walk-in vans. Adrian Steel prides itself in producing the most innovative and durable upfit products on the market. To order your upfit, contact one of Adrian Steel’s trusted distributors today!
