This is probably my favorite part of the year. When the last project is on the schedule, I get to spend more time in a tree stand, and I start making lists for the new year.
What are your top 3-4 priorities for 2018?
Ours are as follows:
Hire two more people.
Replace current website.
Have an attorney rewrite the contracts and T&C’s.
Film employee training videos and create a checklist for requirements for promotion to crew leader.
What are your marketing priorities so you can have the calendar full before your season ever starts?
Ours:
Call ALL prior customers in February.
Local magazine ad.
Monthly email campaign, professionally designed templates.
You absolutely need a section of the video where you go over common mistakes. After a brief explanation of a mistake you cut away to @Innocentbystander saying “walk away” in a irritated tone of voice.
I was gonna bug him anyway and see if I could come out for a week in the spring for his first apartment complex job and pull hoses or whatever so I can see the process. I’ll add this to the list when I bug him in the spring. This will be his first time seeing this so maybe I can get the community to peer pressure him into it. Lol
@JHH I think I’m gonna wait until the first couple months of the new season pass to focus on equipment again. I’ve spent more money on equipment and supplies than I’ve lived on all year. Lol
Just bought a bunch of pieces and parts so I will go through all the equipment and trailers to bring them up to snuff.
Had a competitor tell me he is going to put a truck or two in this area so I will be re working a marketing strategy to keep him on his toes…
I am reworking my website as well and a ton of other internet stuff.
What I should do is sell everything and head back south… Im just to lazy too deal with realtor, plumbers, pressure washers and bankers…,lol
Not trying to rain on your parade but I did this a few years back and it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Lot’s of time spent planning the modules, filming the operation and editing the videos only to find that new hires find them unbelievably boring to watch and don’t remember much anyway.
Personally I found a better way was to identify key training objectives and create a training plan that uses instruction, demonstration, and practice.
I present the training objective to the employee on a piece of paper. We read it together and go over what they are expected to learn. For example one module would be:
How to Start, Run, and Shutdown the Pressure Washer Engine.
For this KTO, you will learn the proper procedure to start, run and shutdown the pressure washer engine. At the end of this training should be able to:
Identify by name the major components of the engine.
Perform a pre-start inspection.
Demonstrate how to start the PW engine and ensure it is running correctly.
Demonstrate the procedure for shutting down the PW engine.
Perform a post-shutdown inspection.
Then I train the employee on the 5 aspects listed above by talking him through what is to be done, then I demonstrate it for him to observe. Next he is required to talk me through it as if he were training me and lastly he has to be able to demonstrate it to me by doing it.
He has to be able to do it repeatedly until he can do it perfectly and I feel he has learned it, and then he has completed that particular objective. All the procedures are in a book that he has so when we are in the field and he asks what’s next I say what does the book say?
After a while they learn to get the book before even asking me and if I see them skipping something I get the book and say let’s go over the procedures again.
It’s hard to do that with videos, and that’s probably more information that you even wanted, so take it for what’s it worth.
That’s hard to say. I have 4 part time folks. 2 of which are retired and one of which is a window cleaner trying to build his client book so at any point those 3 may no longer be available. I can’t find full time folks to save my life and I think it’s because I’m adamant about drug testing and background checks.
I’ve just gotten really lucky that I’ve always got 1 or 2 guys available pretty consistently ready to come off the bench.
