Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

 

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

Do you have regrets? Are these regrets with your personal life or professional life? Could there be regrets with both the personal and professional? Isn’t it time to take a stand and provide an action to get what you want? Krish Dhanam gives motivational speeches and he repeats a simple phrase that holds meaning and it is Glad I did or wish I had.

Living a life of of wish I had will always leave you wanting more from life. With football there is a definition of a term; Monday morning quarterback. This is the person that sits and looks back and states proudly if I could go back this is what I would do in this situation or this is how I would have done it. Sitting on the sideline will never give you the full picture and never tests your metal.

It is hard to imagine any person satisfied with going through the motion living an ordinary life. Even successful people going through the motions at some time must want more from themselves or their situation. There must be a feeling of there is more to this than this. Some people live their whole life wondering what it feels like to act instead of always reacting.

Often dreams are put on hold due to promises made by other people. Waiting on promises can be both good and bad. Putting your future in promises made by others allows others to control your destiny and dreams. Will you at the end be saying glad I did or wish I had?

At some point a decision must be made. A determination to move forward or remain in same situation is required. Frequently a fear of the unknown shifts to the forefront and stops the movement of going forward with hopes and dreams. You must get by that fear to take that all important second step to leave behind the life that is safe and secure is essential. The first step is to take action however one foot is planted in the same position and a second step is crucial. The start of glad I did.

The time is now to make that important decision to take on more responsibility either with the job you presently have or with a new adventure. Stop living in the world of denial and false promises of wish you had and start reaching for the potential that is locked behind closed doors. It is time to open the door wide and bolt through that door blazing a new trail and open your comfort zone to new possibilities. Create your opportunities and breaks by acting on objectives.

A friend of mine Larry Grimes made this statement;

Are you the HOST or the GUEST in life? Do you approach people or do you wait for them to come to you? The two major factors for happiness, serenity and a lifetime of overall satisfaction are PREDICTION and CONTROL.

If you CONTROL your immediate environment by MAKING THINGS HAPPEN (mainly by approaching the right people at the right time for the right reason), you will easily be able to PREDICT the outcomes of your actions and other’s actions or inactions.

And, the uncontrollable and unpredictable events in your life are much fewer and much less impactful.

Take control of where you want to be and how you will get there. Leaving this in the hands of others will put you where others want you to be. Will this help you get to where you want to be?

The time is now to start today living a life of “Glad I did” and leave behind the huge word of “if” only or I had. There is a saying it is better to ask forgiveness than permission and in the case of making a decision to exercise your ability to take on a new adventure rings true. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Take that chance, you deserve the best that life can offer and you have the ability to make that decision and then act on that decision.

 

Will the means justify the end with sales?

Will the means justify the end with sales?

Will the means justify the end with sales? Are service technicians selling to sell or is there a just reason to push their products and services? To what extent should a service technician try to sell their solution? How dangerous is the situation and will the magnitude of that dangerous situation change how hard you sell? Should there be a correlation between the sale and quality of installation? Is it satisfactory to use a negative suggestion to compel a client to move forward today and purchase your product and service?

The questions above have taken shape in recent weeks with discussions in the midst of other contractors. Recently I discovered that many sales service technicians are having great difficulty being a judge and jury to their own ways and means. Driven by greed some techs believe that the end justifies the methods. The lack of continuing training and educating has a great deal to the misunderstanding of some of the tactics and techniques used to create more sales. Every now and then success has a way to blind a company and their service technicians and prevents the indispensable need for continuing training to keep everyone on the suitable page and steps with sales.

With this attitude the quality of work will suffer and the installation method is questionable. The idea is to blow through a job in order to get to the next job and make as much money as possible. This leads the technician to tolerate shortcuts to make the repair or replacement of the product and service in lieu of speed. This then leads directly to poor service, service after the sale, and ultimately cheating the client to what they deserve. Do what is right and help the client during all phases of the sale.

Recently quite a few service technicians have told me they use the phrase; because it is old and needs to be replaced as a valid reason to make an unnecessary repair. It is an unnecessary repair or replacement, stop cheating the client. There must be a valid reason to propose some type of change. There must be some type of need that is not fabricated in order to make a quota. The technician is there to serve the client. The client is never a tool for the technician and company to use.

A dangerous situation in a client’s home that can produce disease, sickness, and affect the health of all people in that home is a sticky situation. A heating unit that is allowing carbon monoxide to escape into the home, a broken sewer line allowing fecal material and bacteria creating an unhealthy situation, an electrical line that is arcing that could cause a fire , begs for an answer to this question; how far should the service technician and company go to make the sale?

No one should live in a dangerous situation. A home owner’s home is theirs however this alone will not grant the home owner absolute power to decide not to make the necessary repairs or replacements. The home owner’s duty is to create a safe and working environment. This will not necessitate that I must do the repair or replacement .Nevertheless it is my responsibility to make sure the home owner does move forward to make the necessary changes. Of course I would hope that he or she would choose me to continue with the job and it is up to me to persuade, convince, and guide the client to that way of accepted wisdom.

How extreme the service technician is determined by each individual’s ethics and morals. The client must be informed of the danger and what will happen with non action. In the case of carbon monoxide, turn off the appliance so it will not work. The electrical apparatus that can cause a fire must be addressed. The electrician must disconnect the breaker so that appliance will not work. Shut off the plumbing fixtures that are affecting the drains. Sometimes the company and service technician may need to call the proper agency and authority that deals with this type situation. This must be completed whether you receive payment or you do not receive payment.

Some companies believe it is their duty to stay and force the client to make a decision today and move forward. The end result justifies the means. In the case of dire and dangerous perils it is ok to use methods to force the client to understand the grave situation he or she presently faces. Under no circumstances should the home owner be forced to use you to complete these repairs or replacements. It would be fantastic if the home owner chose you to make the repairs that you notified them of instead of calling someone that used to take care of them. My reason for this is the other company did not take care of them and did not inform the home owner of the circumstances and the home owner deserves better than that from their service provider. This uncaring company has left the client in a dangerous situation and has allowed the client to live in that condition. That company does not deserve to stay in business.

The home owner must know, understand, and acknowledge the problem. Whatever is considered necessary to express the idea in a clear concise message to the home owner that inaction will not be tolerated would be fine as long as the home owner is not forced to use you. Remember ultimately it is the home owners decision whom to use.

Whether you are the cheapest or the most expensive company the quality of workmanship should never be compromised even when the product is of poor quality. We are all human and will make mistakes. Own up to those mistakes with diagnosing the job. Frequently the client will understand that unforeseen obstacles enter into diagnosing a problem. Sometimes the company and technician must take responsibility for the mistakes with the diagnostics and eat the extra costs when an error occurs. Never compromise your integrity and always do what is right by and for the client.

Many sales organizations teach negative selling. They do this because it is easy to teach and a tech can be thrown into a truck right away and start turning dollars. Negative selling is informing the client that the drain cleaner they are using can spit when mixed with water and blind the user. This needs to be repaired or replaced because it is old and can cause a massive flood or damage to your property. If you the home owner do not make the repair you may find yourself on a Friday night or returning home one night to find the problem. Frequently it is followed by something that suggests this; do you want to wait until then or take care of it now. Fear of something is a great motivator; fear of loss, fear of a decision, fear of a bad decision, or fear of disaster replaces value and leads to buyer’s remorse that someone else with the company must answer. Nothing can replace a client’s perceived value especially when the tech places their perceive value in exchange. In the end the company gives money back to the client or a return trip is necessary to deliver value after the fact. Either way it is extremely difficult when value is misplaced by the service technician and is not a win win situation for the client or company.

Typically when negative selling is used by the service tech the client has made the decision to move forward simply because it made sense or you are there and might as well finish the job. It is an elevated pressure condition for the client and technician. Many service technicians fail with this style of selling due to feeling it is high pressure and they are low key personalities. Commit to memory it is not what is stated, preferably it is how it is stated that will compel the client to act. I have a drain product that is organic and does not contain harsh chemicals that can cause harm to you and your fixtures as opposed to this has acids in it that can blind you and destroy your fixtures and you should not use it.

The time is now to learn new techniques that excite, induce, and engage the client towards an enjoyable ownership exchange. The client arrives at this decision due to the information received from the service technician and it is a natural conclusion for him or her. Never let the means justify the end and start today having an enjoyable ownership exchange that allow the client to be 100% satisfied.

This is a vent

 

 

I visit a plumbing site called Plumbing Zone. In this site
are some so called professional plumbers? Some of the crap that gets posted is
amazing and mind blowing stuff. It makes me wonder how some of these people
stay in business let alone start a business.  Talk before they think and act without thought.
Some speak

And will not put a real name to their baseless, pointless
rambling. Yet they think they are the front runners to running a successful
business and leaders in the plumbing industry. A few have their bandwagon
groupies that try to dominate the way business should run. Quite a few of my
articles are a direct result to how some of these people run their business and
treat their customers.  A plumbing contractor
can visit this site and  see prime
examples concerning how  not to run a
business and how not to treat clients.

 

There is an employee
of a company from the northeast that goes by the name of Redwood. He is not the
typical plumber however he is a typical internet junkie that spends way too
much time on line and not enough time in the real world practicing real world selling.
This is a rant on this idiot and his small ways. I can do this because I have
my own blog.

 

To Redwood

 

You are a smart guy; I know plenty of smart guys like you.
They put their 30 hours of work in and then come home and pound their 40 hours
of internet time into a common site worried about missing something. The one
thing in common you have with those smart guys is you’re afraid to use the
intelligence that you have accumulated over the years due to people wanting and
expecting more out of you. You are comfortable not putting this intelligence to
use due to not wanting to fail or fearing failure. The lack of courage to fail
at something gives you immense courage on line to show off how smart you are.
The intelligence is being wasted due to low self confidence to attempt greater
efforts fearing superior success. Having intelligence is not power ,putting
that intelligence towards an action is powerful. Do not let contentment be
confused with fear. Grow some balls and use that intelligence and take a chance
at failure that leads to more success. You speak a lot without putting your
name and signature on stuff, have some bravery and place your name on the crap
you write. Start being proud of the things you state instead of hiding behind a
blank non significant face.

 

I am amazed at how you believe that you have become
significant by trying to belittle other people. You’re confusing witty and
funny with petty and small .For 2 minutes someone in PZ may boost your ego and
think of you however when the big picture is gazed upon 2 minutes every now and
again is insignificant. The pesky fly getting trapped by the fly paper. You are
a small man with small ideas living a small life. Get a hobby. You might want
to try and communicate more with your wife and children and get involved in
their life and less in the life of Plumbing Zone. Sorry if this is too touchy
feely for you.

 

We all have known morons like this and this forum thread is
for all those goofballs who think they are important when in fact they have very
little to offer to anyone of value. I get real tired of idiots like this and
will no longer value, listen, or waste my time working with or responding to
them in the future. This thread is dedicated to all the people who know someone
like this and wish to write something like this in public.

Remember when

 

Remember when

I promised myself that I would take this weekend off and stay clear from any type work. We can see how long that lasted. I was swimming with my 4 month old granddaughter in the heat of the day, blue sky, and sunny day. She was floating in a float, her arms splashing and her little feet kicking the pool water.

I started to reminisce about all the changes that I have witnessed and wondered what kind of changes Harper ann. will witness during her life. I hope her experience is similar to mine and she witnesses many fantastic changes.

Some of the changes may sound unbelievable to many people due to them being common occurrences people experience daily. The first thing that came to mind is color television. Every show was in black and white. To top that off there were only 3 channels to watch. Available to us ABC, NBC, and CBS with very few TV shows accessible. I remember neighbors sitting together watching 1 television in the neighborhood. Today’s standard for television has over 300 television channels with a majority of them in digital and high definition with theatre sound.

There were no microwaves to cook food. A baked potato took 30 minutes to cook and Mom started cooking at 4:00 in the afternoon. This enabled the family to sit around the dinner table with your family at 6:00 and talk about the daily activities. Children spent the day outside running, jumping, and playing sports. There were no video games or computers to play around with and spending hours inside a dark room.

Music played on a phonograph and was 75 rpms, a thick vinyl record. It went from those kinds of records to the small 45 and albums that were not stereo. Today it is a small disc that plays digital recordings, mp3 players and on through the internet.

It was necessary to use 2 hands to turn the steering wheel of a vehicle to make any turns. Cars were heavy and slow equipped with AM radio only. Air conditioning consisted of rolling down the windows, power windows may have been a dream I really do not know. Traveling by air was available however the normal travel was by automobile. Airports were few and far between located in large cities. The

airplanes used propellers to power the plane. Space travel was a thought in old movies and in the early 60’s a promise was made By John F Kennedy to travel to the moon before the decade was complete.

Telephones were as heavy as the cars. Not really, they were large and heavy black rotary phones and each home had one. The line was called a party line that was shared by a few people. Today we have cell phones the size of a wallet. Letter writing carried the day and most people used letter writing as the normal means for communicating with family, friends, and relatives. Today a click of the mouse and poof an email is sent and received immediately. Phones with texting capabilities send messages as quickly.

There were no malls to shop and surely there were no super malls complete with indoor rides and waterfalls such as the one in St Paul, Minnesota. Store fronts lined up on Main Street in towns and cities. People hung out at the Barbershops instead of the malls. Ben Franklin 5 and dime shops were in every town alongside of Sears and Pennies with silver Diners instead of McDonalds. Banks were owned locally by people who lived in that city or town. Today’s banks are owned by corporations over sea. Deals were made with handshakes now they are made with contracts.

These are not the only changes that have happened during my lifetime. I remember people saying they were on fads and would not last long. The old ways would eventually come back and there was very little need to change and adapt to the new way that made life easier. I remember when my grandparents and parents refused to grasp and hold of the new inventions. There was no way that change could be embraced due to the routines that had a hold on their thought process.

People that did change and adapt quickly were considered strange and jumping on bandwagons with little thought to what will happen with the change. It was thought to be the end to our civilization as we know it and the breakdown of society. The end of planning and saving to get something in the future changed to getting it now and then plan.

In many ways I wish some of the old ideals were still around. I do honor the handshake as a way to seal a deal. Promises made had meaning and held iron in the words. A persons worth was determined by their word. Business deals were made on a promise of an idea and that idea came to fruition by hard work and family concepts. I still believe small business runs on this premise in rural America.

However the ideas of the past are in the past. In order to move forward change must be embraced. The old business practices of yesterday must yield to the new way to communicate and deliver the message to your customer. Your customer is no longer the neighborhoods in your village, town and city. It is a global market with many different cultures buying and needing your products and services. The good old boy networking no longer is an effective tool to have a highly successful business that expects to flourish in society today. Companies working with old thoughts and ways can go; boom boom, lie down your dead.

The preconceived notion that people will use me because I am really actually good and I am an honest person no longer is the top two drivers to gain business opportunities. Here is the simple truth; there are many really fantastic companies that are honest for the consumer to choose. The companies that are not honest and good believe they are honest and good. The work is diverted to those who can relay the message the best and not necessarily guide the consumer to the best company for him or her. There is a company locally that has hit the air waves, television, and internet heavy and effectively. The technicians employed there are not strong in their trade nor are they strong candidates to be in a consumer’s home. However they do receive a good slice of the pie with service and product. The perception and the message delivered to the consumer is enticing and engaging to him or her. You do not have to lessen your standards to be effective in today’s market climate. It is time to employ the different communication methods to deliver your message to the consumer and drive that consumer to your company today.

The perception of the service trade’s person is an area that is in dire need of transformation. Habitually the plumber views him or herself as just a plumber and the same for air conditioning and electricians. I am here to fix this for you today is no longer enough? I have over 30 years experience with this very thing has little to no meaning to the consumer. Repairing or replacing an item due to the item not working is no longer enough for many consumers to get it done. A discovery of why the consumer wants to get it repaired or replaced is essential. Many companies and technicians the sale has eluded them and a label is placed on the consumer as a time waster or tire kicker when in reality it is the technician and company that has squandered time. It is time to start with training both the company and technician to deliver a message of; I am here to help and guide you to the best decision you can possibly make. One of those decisions will be using my company to help you. Today is the day to decide that the consumer is first and foremost the reason you are in business.

That money in your pocket is mine and I will do whatever it takes to put it in my pocket is no longer the business model for success. Today it is I must earn the right to do business with you. When the right to the consumers business is earned magical amazing fetes can be accomplished for the consumer. Include the consumer in the decision making process by giving him or her options to choose the best product and service that serves their interests. When a consumer is making the decision with the information

your technician has given a new world opens up for both the company and the consumer. The new world is an empowering one that allows a clear concise action that is obvious to both the consumer and technician. Start today to invest in your company, technician and your customer.

Remember when all you needed was a truck, some tools, and a small amount of cash to run a business? A little success and a shop building was added to the company, next the addition of some employees. Running into Sam at the grocery store and Sam states hey I was going to call you to come over to fix so and so does not happen like it used to, it is time to change the direction of staying in front of your customers and gaining new customers.

Remember when it used to be easier?

 

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