IAQ – Comanche Marketing

Cause and Effect – Finding the Root of Your Business Problems

Recently one of my Regional IAQ Training Reps mentioned that during a manager’s meeting with one of his dealers, they pinpointed some problems in the business that were causing a significant decrease in IAQ sales. It is customary for my training team to meet with our dealers’ management team after our onsite sessions to review and analyze the status of their IAQ sales and their effect on top-line revenue and bottom-line profit. This meeting was especially interesting because this dealer’s IAQ sales were down 17% over last year in a booming market. Consumer awareness about IAQ products is at an all-time high, and our dealers’ sales have increased substantially in the past two years. So why the decrease in IAQ sales for this specific dealer? Some of the reasons were obvious, and others were uncovered during this meeting. An action plan was put in place to affect a positive outcome on future sales.

Whether it’s challenges with sales, marketing, financial, manpower, or whatever, problems have always been part of businesses and will continue to be. So as business owners, we need to continually analyze our business, identify the problems, and understand the underlying causes and the effects that follow when they persist. Once establishing the cause of a problem and its effects, you can then tackle the problem better by proposing viable solutions. To this end, the need to undertake cause and effect analysis is vital for business success. It is necessary to understand the root cause of a problem. Whether it is analyzing why equipment or accessory sales are down or any other business challenges, determining the best methods to solve the problem may include implementing new management policies, changing a process, or even repositioning your team members to effectively achieve desired business outcomes by identifying and addressing the root cause of the business problem faced.

Analyzing these problems involves looking backward to what caused the problem, then looking forward with a plan.

Only about two-thirds of startups survive past their second year in business, and many companies that make it past their second year in business continue to struggle to be profitable. There are underlying reasons why this continues to happen, so it is crucial for your business to survive profitably to discover and understand these reasons. Looking backward into your business to find the root causes of your challenges calls for an analysis of past mistakes and problems. You must identify where these past issues have come from and put a plan together for avoiding them in the future.

Once this cause-and-effect analysis has taken place, it can be used for future planning. Looking forward into your business, this analysis is your basic planning tool to create a better future business outcome than you have experienced in the past.

This becomes a five-step process.

1. Identify and describe the problem. Describe the nature of the problem and how it is affecting your business.

2. Brainstorm with your management team the root cause of the problem. Break it down to the people involved, current processes and procedures, the material used, working conditions, etc.

3. Identify all internal and external causes.
a. You have control over your internal causes since they are mostly operational and employee relationship issues.
b. External problems such as supply chain issues, changing laws, weather conditions, the economy are out of your control but still need to be considered so you can adjust your business practices to account for some of these issues and have as much influence as you can on others.

4. Analyze your discoveries in steps one through three and prioritize what you can control and act on. Decide what action can be taken immediately, list what you have control over, identify where you can implement change, and influence what you can with issues out of your control.

5. From here, you can develop your plan of action. This plan should reflect proposed solutions to the problem and identify specifically who is responsible for the appropriate action. A point person should be assigned that holds others accountable to stay on task with target dates set to accomplish all implementation.

Although this process may sound time-consuming and laborious, depending on the issue at hand, it can also be fun. Over 30 years ago in my previous career, I worked for a janitorial and maintenance supply company owned by Howard Teidt. Howard used to have occasional problem-solving meetings that he called “Green-light / Red-light” sessions. We were a small company, and he would invite everyone into the conference room for a meeting. In the first part of the meeting, he called the “Green-light” segment. Howard would present a company problem then tell everyone to turn their green light on. This meant that anything goes. We would throw out solutions no matter how serious or ridiculous they were, and he would write them on a whiteboard. Not only did this foster creative thinking, but it was usually fun and hilarious. Once we exhausted the solutions, Howard would yell “Red-light,” then we would all stop and examine the ideas. The funny nonsense ideas were crossed out, and we were left with some great ideas.

As an example, in one session, the company problem at hand was our increased fuel and delivery cost. We had a company policy that if you placed an order by 2:00 pm, we would deliver your product the next day for free. Howard proposed the question: “How can we cut delivery expenses by $3,000 per month?” “Green-light!” – on the funny side:

Fire John, our driver (he was in the meeting…)
Sell the delivery truck and save on insurance.
Stop delivering and have our accounts pick up their orders.
Quit selling so much.
And so on…

“Red-light!”

During the red-light segment of the meeting, after we stopped razzing each other, one of John’s ideas (our truck driver) stood out. He said because of our next-day delivery policy to all our accounts that he was driving all over a four-county area every day fighting traffic and racking up miles trying to get to everyone. John said, “Why don’t we map out our deliveries into smaller territories and offer deliveries only on certain days of the week to each territory?” The sales team was the first to object because “that’s a great selling benefit and we can’t change it now. Our customers will object!”

So, we surveyed our top accounts and discovered that no one really cared if they received their shipment the next day or not and set delivery days would be just fine. We implemented John’s plan, and it saved us thousands of dollars on fuel since he wasn’t driving all over our coverage area every day. This even gave John more time to organize our warehouse, solving another problem!

Green-light / Red-light problem-solving sessions can be fun, and they work!

Taken at face value, this is just another problem-solving tool. Still, any problem-solving process takes commitment to conduct the initial exercise, follow through with the implementation of the set plan, and holding people accountable for making it happen. The causes and effects of business problems won’t just go away. Any analysis and planning process is only as effective as the folks involved want it to be and how capable they are of taking the appropriate action to carry it through to its fruition.

Steve Mores is the Vice President of Training and Sales at Dynamic Air Quality Solutions.

Service Roundtable is dedicated to growing your bottom line and helping your business maximize its full potential. These groups of contractors work together to assist you with marketing, sales, business, and so much more. Twice a month, seminars around the United States and Canada are held to network and further assist your business. Visit Service Roundtable.com to see if there are Success Days in your area.

Luck in Business

As a lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, I paced my living room floor on April 14^th of this year, watching the 9^th inning of the Cleveland Indians vs. the White Sox. The Sox were winning 8 – 0, so what’s the big deal? Why was I so nervous? It’s just the 9^th inning of a regular-season game with an eight-run lead. Well, Carlos Rodón was pitching for the White Sox with a perfect game going into the 9^th inning. With another three up and three down inning, Rodón would go into the record books as one of the few pitchers in baseball history who pitched a perfect game.

What made this even more exciting and special was that Rodón suffered from shoulder and elbow injuries, and in May of 2019, he underwent Tommy John surgery. He’s pitched just 42 innings the past two years and wasn’t even guaranteed a spot in the White Sox rotation this season.

I can’t do justice to the play-by-play, so if any baseball fans want to watch the exciting last inning, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDQocUOvk8

Meanwhile, the first out was an exciting play at first where the batter was out by a fraction of an inch, only confirmed by slow-motion replay. The second Cleveland batter went to a 0 – 2 count, then Rodón hit him with a pitch! There goes the perfect game! Rodón then got the next two batters out and finished the game with a no-hitter.

Was this luck? Obviously not. Luck is winning the lottery. Pitching a perfect game or a no-hitter in the MLB takes years of practice, dedication, and challenges to meet along the way to realize that dream.

I would suggest that the same goes for us in the contracting business. Successful contractors don’t get there by luck. It’s their hard work, dedication, and passion. And after over 30 years of partnering with, training, and consulting with contractors, I have observed several common denominators that most successful contractors have.

They have a dream and realize it. These contractors have a vision of where they want to be, the type of company culture they want to build and realize it by taking action to make it happen.
They have challenges and meet them head-on. Just because you dream, it doesn’t mean that you will not run into challenges along the way. They don’t ignore these challenges and hope they go away. They meet challenges and focus on solutions so they can continue the journey of realizing their goals.
They act when opportunities are presented and benefit from them. When an opportunity presents itself to improve or expand the business, they turn that opportunity into a business reality. There isn’t any coulda, shoulda, woulda going on here.
They stand by their promises. When they enter into agreements or partnerships with staff, suppliers, or any business relationship, they always fulfill these promises. If circumstances arise that challenge the stipulations of the promise, successful contractors always discuss it openly with the parties involved to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution.
They look at business as an adventure. It’s not just a job, rather an adventure that they dare to take. They know they will have struggles, yet they accept this, and it doesn’t deter them from their mission.
They are strategic. Successful contractors have a plan and execute it every day. They avoid knee-jerk reactions by having a business plan and make decisions based on set goals and a mission statement. Risk-taking comes into play here, but with full awareness of the likely consequences.
They are honest and ethical. Fair and honest decisions are made based on their plan. They treat their employees and customers like family by running their business with a code of ethics that all employees are aware of and are expected to follow.
They WOW their customers. They create a company culture where everybody is involved in servicing the customer to exceed all expectations. From the CSRs to the service call and from curb to collect, a first-class customer experience is delivered by all team members.
They don’t go it alone. Successful contractors surround themselves with people who are better at specific tasks and duties than they may be. They get the right people on the bus, in the right positions, motivate them, and hold them accountable.
They have Faith. And speaking of not going it alone, they have faith in themselves, their team, and God. They prayerfully seek guidance, give thanks, and utilize their God-given talents and tools for the service of others.

I’m sure you can add to this list based on your personal experience or from your observations of other successful people that you know. But I would venture to say that “Luck in Business” isn’t on your list either.

Meanwhile, back to baseball. In the movie A League of Their Own, manager Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks, has that famous (or infamous) line, “There’s no crying in baseball!” Well, while there may be some trials, tribulations, and tears along the way, “There’s no luck in business!” Luck is an abstract concept that can become a physical reality with hard work, determination, passion, and a plan. You must make luck happen; it’s not a given.

Good Luck!

Steve Mores is the Vice President of Training and Sales at Dynamic Air Quality Solutions.

Count Your Blessings

We all have heard the expression: “You should count your blessings.” This phrase is used in several different contexts. Someone may express this sentiment when something good happens to you: “That’s great news; you should count your blessings.” When something upsetting happens to you: “I’m sorry to hear that, but it could be worse, you should count your blessings.” Or even when something bad happens to someone else: “It’s so sad what happened to them, we should count our blessings.” There are even certain times of the year when we are asked to stop and think about all the things that make us happy or bring us joy.

Every fourth Thursday in November, we celebrate Thanksgiving, which is when many of us count our blessings. Yet do we need to wait for a holiday to give thanks and count our blessings? Is this just a saying, or should we really take it literally? I would suggest that when we count our blessings, we note all the wonderful things in our lives. Write a list, a gratitude list, if you will that helps us to appreciate how good life is and read it daily. Start your day out with gratitude!

It’s better not to take our blessings for granted or wait for a holiday to celebrate them. When we take something for granted, we tend not to appreciate it. So, let’s take a step back and consider what a blessing really is.

In our secular world, a blessing is considered something that brings us happiness or helps us somehow. To religious people, a blessing is approval and help from a higher source, that being God. A blessing can also be a sign of approval when someone permits you to do something. “You have my blessing to do so…” Counting all these blessings is important. It shows that you are grateful and are expressing a feeling of appreciation or thanks. When we count our blessings, we can say it like this: “I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful for my health.”

Other forms of “blessings” are expressed as “the little things in life” or the “small blessings,” “a mixed blessing,” or a “blessing in disguise.”

Let’s say you get angry because your car won’t start, and you start thinking of all the negative ramifications it may cause. But then you stop for a moment and think, “Well, at least I have a car. I should consider myself lucky and give thanks for small blessings.”

Another small blessing is a fun thing known as “Pay it forward.” Paying it forward is expressed when the beneficiary of a good deed is repaying the kindness to others instead of the original benefactor. Paying someone’s toll or buying a cup of coffee for the person behind you is a common example. Small acts of kindness, like paying forward, can really make someone’s day and can be added to their gratitude list for the day!

Not all blessings are that simple and easy to recognize. Some are more complex than others, like “mixed blessings.” A mixed blessing is something that is both good and bad. For example, being a rock star can be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they are treated as a celebrity with special perks, benefits, and financial rewards. On the other hand, they may lose their privacy, be more susceptible to addictive behavior, and feel pressured to produce that next hit song to keep their status. In the case of mixed blessings, focusing on the good and avoiding the bad can be a blessing in and of itself.

Another type of blessing is what we call “A blessing in disguise.” It is a little more complicated than a mixed blessing can be. This is where the blessing is hidden or “disguised” in a bad event or situation that we may have experienced. It refers to something that at first appears to be bad or unlucky but is actually good.

For example, someone losing their job turned out to be a blessing in disguise when it forced her to start a business that became very successful and that she loves and is passionate about.

As you can see, there are many types of blessings that we can be grateful for every day. Yet sometimes, it’s hard to focus on these blessings when we are bombarded every day with predominately negative news. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be concerned with local, national, and worldly events. We can’t just bury our heads in the sand, but it gives us all the more reason to count our blessings!

So, this does take some effort and deliberate concentration on the good in our lives and the world around us. Whether the blessings are small, mixed, or disguised – they all count! And while this may all seem elementary, I thought we could all use a reminder to count our blessings. I know I do!

Steve Mores is the Vice President of Training and Sales at Dynamic Air Quality Solutions.

The Average Ticket Culture

When someone truly believes in the products and services they provide to their clients, and they know how to effectively communicate what they believe with passion and enthusiasm to another, this becomes the positive cause and effect of the sales process. My team and I have a saying that illustrates this communication process in sales, which leads to my average ticket discussion:

“Sales is the transfer of your belief to someone else, and the reward is money.”

So if you and your team believe in the products and services that you offer and can communicate this to your clients ethically with passion and enthusiasm, average tickets will go up along with company profits, employee income, and rave reviews.

Many organizations and national trainers (including myself and my IAQ training team) all preach the importance of setting KPIs, knowing the average ticket of your team members, and holding them accountable to reach the standards and goals that you set for them. As important as this is to keep your company profitable so that you can properly serve your clients, many times this can be misconstrued by your team without the proper communication that should go along with it.

Let me elaborate on the three types of “Average Ticket Cultures” that I have seen over the years of training and visiting contractors.

Lead to mislead: This is where the leader of the company trains his team to hit the KPI and average ticket at all costs. Maybe even to the extent of having deceptive practices to entice clients to purchase unneeded products or services only to benefit the technicians, sales consultants’, and the company’s pocketbooks. So they may or may not believe in the company’s product and services, but that doesn’t matter in this case. The emphasis is put on increasing revenue alone and not increasing average tickets by properly communicating to the client what is in their best interest. Fortunately, this is the exception and not the rule.
Lead to impede: Many times company leaders, who recognize the importance of higher average tickets and what it financially means to all involved, don’t train their team on how to effectively communicate the features and benefits of their products and services properly to their clients on every sales, service, and maintenance call. So the leader becomes a hindrance since the team may believe in the company’s products and services, yet they don’t know how to transfer this belief to the client. It’s like telling them where they need to be, but not telling them how to get there.
Lead to succeed: In this culture, not only does the leader give her team members the tools and training to understand the benefits of their products and services, but she also works with them on how to effectively communicate these benefits, honestly and ethically, on every call. Teaching them when and how to offer options at incremental levels allows the client to choose which option best fits their budgets and needs. These options can best be described, in a manner of speaking, as what must be done to get them back up and running, what should be done to prevent it from happening in the future, and what could be done to improve performance with accessory items, (i.e.: IAQ, water treatment, surge protectors, hard start kits, generators, etc.).

When a leader leads to success, it takes some work, yet it is the only sustainable culture of the three. Higher average tickets become the positive effect that is caused by the ability of your team members to communicate challenges and solutions effectively with confidence. This then becomes a company culture of servicing the client with care and consideration that results in higher average tickets. Yet, it doesn’t start there. Treating others with respect and respecting their point of view, even when you don’t agree, is a way of life. Greeting others with a smile and living a life of gratitude starts with humility in one’s self. In our innermost being, we must respect ourselves first, which guides our morals, and in turn guides our manners in respecting others.

I may be simplifying this, yet as we witness the negativity that’s going on locally and around the world today, there is an obvious disconnect with humility, respect, and understanding of others. How we deal with adversity affects us, our personal life, our careers, and the world around us.

In the early 1800s as our country was developing, the US and the British were still fighting over the control of this new nation and the land. Caught in between this fight were the Native Americans who saw us “settlers” as the enemy in this land grab.

Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee tribe rose amongst the Indians to become a leader and great warrior that tried to unite all tribes to defend their homeland. Talk about adversity!

Chief Tecumseh had other great attributes as well. While he was a fierce warrior, he was a humble man who believed in treating others with respect. I will not be able to do justice to his legacy in this short article, but here is a very brief bio:

“Tecumseh was a Shawnee warrior chief who organized a Native American confederacy in an effort to create an autonomous Indian state and stop white settlement in the Northwest Territory (modern-day Great Lakes region). He firmly believed that all Indian tribes must settle their differences and unite to retain their lands, culture, and freedom. Tecumseh led his followers against the United States in many battles and supported the British during the War of 1812. But his dream of independence ended when he was killed at the Battle of Thames, which led to the collapse of his Indian confederacy.”

Chief Shawnee was also a great orator whose speeches even mesmerized enemy soldiers. This excerpt from one of his speeches gives us some insight to his humility and beliefs.

“So, live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes, they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.” ― Chief Tecumseh

What great words of wisdom! Lead to succeed with a culture of humility and respect for others, and the financial rewards will come your way.

Steve Mores is the Vice President of Training and Sales at Dynamic Air Quality Solutions

IAQ Best Practice Success Story

As the COVID-19 inquiries from contractors come in, I am struck by the variety of ways that contractors position themselves as far as IAQ challenges and solutions during the outbreak. And they go from one extreme to another:

With all this media attention, MAYBE I should get into IAQ…
I’m going to exploit this opportunity to MY advantage… (yes sadly a few)
This subject is too sensitive, so I’m going to stop marketing IAQ until it is over…
How can I best service my clients with the IAQ products that we have been promoting for years during these unprecedented times?

Let’s imagine for a moment that this COVID-19 outbreak never happened.

How would you handle promoting IAQ with your clients then? Maybe think about it? Exploit the opportunity? Stop doing it? Or continue to train your team on Best Practices in promoting IAQ?

Hopefully, the answer is obvious!

I believe that the answer to either scenario, with or without COVID-19, should be the same.

We will eventually get through this Covid-19 pandemic, and although things will get back to normal, the need awareness for IAQ products will have heightened substantially. Currently, due to social distancing and consumers’ concerns about letting service techs in their homes, we have had to change the way we work a call and adjust for the present times. This includes communicating more with our clients via email. Through our CSRs and dispatchers, it’s informing them of what action you are taking within your organization to abide by the CDC recommendations on how to keep your employees and your clients as safe as possible.

Currently, the IAQ conversation can still be had, yet we should abide by the six-foot social distancing rule and other CDC recommendations, while in the home as it relates to any conversation a technician may have with the homeowner at different stages of the call. Soon, after the dust settles, we should get back to Best Practices as they relate to the service call and IAQ. Best Practices is a general term that is used in all industries that address many functions within an organization. So, many times I have been asked to be more specific. To that end, I’d like to share one of the many success stories we receive that produced excellent results from learning IAQ Best Practice from the technician standpoint.

Don, my IAQ Training Rep. in Wisconsin, shared this specific success story with me that happened before the COVID-19 pandemic. My team and I are constantly sharing success stories from the field and this one is from an email that Don sent to me detailing a recent success that he had with a “naysayer” technician.

During an onsite training where the contractors IAQ numbers were down 20%, I started by asking the team what was happening in the field that was causing the drop in sales. According to all the techs, the biggest objection for the homeowner was the price. Specifically, one tech was hung up on it. So, I asked him to explain how he was getting the homeowner involved in the call. He used a lot of pictures and technical information, yet never brought the homeowner to the furnace. He only sold two of our PMACs (Polarized Media Air Cleaners) in the past two months. So, I showed them all what they should be doing on every call to boost their confidence and increase success. With this best practice, we have experienced a 96% success rate in giving the homeowner a full presentation at the homeowner’s kitchen table.

I tell techs while I’m on ride-alongs after training that after the meet and greet, it all starts at the thermostat with the transition question: “Mrs. Jones, as I’m going through your system, if I find anything that affects the performance of your equipment or the health and safety of your family, would you like me to share that with you or just fix it?” 99% say they would like me to share my findings with them.

(Most of you have heard of this transition question asked in different ways. Yet, we find that most technicians don’t use it and it is a very important part of the process.)

We start the maintenance, and I have the technician complete their full tune-up and get all their technical readings for their system report. Once that is done, I have them pull the blower wheel completely out. I clean three fins on the blower wheel the best I can to show the homeowner the contrast between clean and the blower wheel’s current condition. I then get the homeowner to join me at the furnace to discuss my concerns. I show them the pictures in our Consumer’s Handbook that show a filthy blower wheel compared to a perfectly clean image of one. Showing the homeowner the current condition of their blower wheel and comparing it to the images, I then ask the homeowner, “If I give this clean blower wheel a rating of 10 (the clean image) and I give the dirty one a rating of zero, how would you rate yours?” Whatever they rate their own, I agree with them and then educate the homeowner on how the current condition of their blower wheel is affecting the performance of their equipment and is causing them to overpay the utility company. (By the way, when the homeowner gives a number, rating the condition of their blower wheel, they take ownership that there is a problem.) This statement is supported by the EPA and Texas A&M studies that I bring to their attention. “Mrs. Jones, as you can see, your blower wheel is accumulating dirt buildup and that motor is designed to work at peak efficiency when it is completely clean. If it is heavier from that dirt, then can we agree it is working harder than it is designed for? If that motor is working harder, what do you think is happening to your utility bill? Going up?” They usually agree. Then I do the same with the secondary heat exchanger and cooling coil with a visual inspection with the homeowner. “If there was a blanket on either of them, then that motor could be working 2x and even 3x harder than it’s designed for. If that motor is working 3x harder, what are the chances that the motor is going to fail prematurely? The reason that this is happening is the current filter you are using is allowing all this dirt to pass through the filter and effecting the most expensive appliance that you have in your home. If I could show you a little better filter than the one you are currently using and guarantee this never happens again, is that okay with you?”

With that example and role play with the team, I then asked the “naysayer” technician to commit to me that he would do this on every call for the next week. Well, he did, and he sold seven PMACs the first week and six the second week. The crazy thing about this story is that after the meeting, I met with the owner to discuss spiffs and his current pricing on our IAQ products. Based on this conversation, he raised his price by $100.00 before the technicians went out on their calls. So, it shows how effective and how important it is to follow a process that will create success for the techs and the company while benefiting the client.

Thanks, Don, for sharing that story so that I can share it with others!

It’s not the price, it’s the process, and it is the right thing to do for your clients.

Take the time now to examine what your IAQ Best Practice process will be for your team, and get expert advice on how to improve and polish it.

Encourage your team to use it every time, on every call, and hold them accountable to the process.

This IAQ Best Practice scenario should be implemented not because of the COVID-19 pandemic, rather despite it!

Steve Mores is the Vice President of Training and Sales at Dynamic Air Quality Solutions