Train every day

It’s a paradoxical truth that increasing unapplied time will boost revenue, so long as the unapplied time is spent on training. Train every day and watch your sales soar.

The weekly service meeting is not enough. In August, high school football teams will begin practicing for the upcoming season. Cheerleaders will work on their routines. Bands and drill teams will start their practices for the half time shows. When the season starts, practice will taper off, but the football teams, cheerleaders, bands, and drill teams will continue to practice many hours for each hour of performance. They will practice over and over and over again, so they can get it right under the Friday night lights.

Your plumbers are also performers. They perform in front of your customers. How much do they practice? A few minutes at the end of a weekly service meeting is not enough.

Training is more than just performance. It’s also about outlook and attitude.

Training is more than just performance. It’s also about outlook and attitude. You send your plumbers into the field to largely work unsupervised day after day. Some are naturally upbeat and maintain a positive attitude no matter what. Others start to feel beat down. This can quickly spiral down into a bad attitude, which inevitably leaks into sales performance. Getting everyone together for just 15 minutes at the start of the day, not only improves technique, it improves their outlook. Not everyone is self-motivated. Some need constant motivational reinforcement.

Daily training does not need to take a lot of time. Just 15 minutes a day will make a world of difference, provided the training is well organized. This means everyone is present and ready to go and the training starts on time, follows an agenda, and finishes on time.

Notebooks adds reinforcement

Give everyone training notebooks, which can be a simple as nice binders. Encourage them to take notes because empirical research has shown that taking notes by hand improves comprehension and retention. They can also review material in their training binders before or after calls. 

If you provide handouts, decide whether you want to pass them out at the start of the training or at the end. If you pass them out early, most people will read ahead. Also, make sure any handouts are pre-punched for easy insertion into their notebooks.

Schedule topics in advance

Coming up with material for daily training can be daunting. To make it manageable, prepare a training calendar in advance. Note the topic, trainer and resources needed. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Technical issues like proper brazing
• Diagnostic techniques
• Understanding the home plumbing and drain system
• Parking and approaching the customer
• Avoiding prejudgments
• Presenting options
• Asking questions
• Managing truck stock
• Truck maintenance
• Appearance and grooming and why they matter to customers
• Converting industry jargon into consumer friendly terms
• Features and benefits of each of your products and services
• How to recognize opportunities to talk about tankless water heaters, water purification systems, water alarms, and so on
• Review upcoming company advertising, marketing and promotions
• Break even analysis and understanding why we charge what we do
• The cost of idle time
• Role playing
• Service recovery
• Techniques for maintaining a positive mental attitude
• Podcasts worth listening to
• Plumber presenting what he learned in an outside training class
• General bull session on what the company is doing well and what can be improved
• General bull session on good and bad things that happened in the previous week
• Personal financial management
• Life skills, such as being a good husband and father
• Articles of interest from Contractormag.com.
• Articles of interest from other small business Internet sites or the general news

These are just a few ideas and certainly not all of the possibilities. Some may not be appropriate for your company. Some can be ongoing where you bring the topic up and address different aspects every week or month.

To keep the training fresh, it’s a good idea to utilize as many different people as training leaders as possible.

To keep the training fresh, it’s a good idea to utilize as many different people as training leaders as possible. Use other people from the office. Periodically make each plumber responsible for a day’s training, which will also help their presentation skills. Bring in suppliers and other personnel from other businesses you patronize.

Standard opening, closing

It’s good to use a standard opening and closing. Some companies start by reciting the company’s mission, vision statement and/or values. Others introduce a motivational quote. You can also ask questions like:

• Will someone share a way he helped the company save money?

• Will someone share a way to help the company make more money?
• Will someone share a good deed performed recently, whether inside the company or outside?
• Who did something really good this week?
• What is something you are looking forward to?

Organized daily training, even it is only 15 minutes a day, will cause sales and margins to improve. The improvement will be more than enough to cover the cost of the training.

Matt Michel is CEO of the Service Roundtable. Are you in a buying group? If not, you are paying too much. Learn about Roundtable Rewards by calling 877/262-3341 or visiting www.ServiceRoundtable.com.