7 Ways to Make This Year Better Than Last Year

Do you want to make this year better for your business than last year? Of course you do. The good news is it is completely in your power to do it. Just follow these seven recommendations.

1. Consciously Decide to Make It Better

It sounds simplistic, but your attitude and mindset may be the most important factors. For example, I’ve lost count of the times a plumber will tell me how horrible things are. People are cheap and don’t want to pay. Calls are few and far between. He can’t find people and the people he finds are sub-par. Meanwhile, in the same town, another plumber will say things are great. He’s surprised how little resistance he had to a price increase. People keep calling for work and he’s got a great team. Same market. Same business. Same consumers. Same labor pool. The difference is the mindset of the owners.

Decide to make this year a great one and it will be. Do not accept anything less. Push harder if you need more effort. I grew every year I was in business, including growth through the Great Recession. You can as well. Remember, you are in a business people need. When the plumbing breaks, it has to be fixed. Sure, there’s some DIY people, but they aren’t your customers. They’re the big box customers. If the market suffers a little, your competitors will likely pull back and suffer more. You can step up and take business away from them.

2. Set Goals

What does it mean to you for this year to be better? Is it more sales? Increased profits? Don’t be vague. If you have vague goals, you’ll get vague results. Quantify it. Define specifically what you want to achieve and write it down! Then, display it. Put it on the wall. Track progress through the year. There’s magic in clearly written goals.

Your goals should be growth oriented. Growth is the natural order of things. Step into your backyard and look around. Everything you see is either growing or dying. It’s true for nature. It’s true for people. It’s true for companies. Remember: if you’re coasting, you’re heading downhill.

3. Raise Prices

You probably think you charge a lot. It’s probably not enough. Make sure you’re staying ahead of inflation. Make sure you’re charging enough to pay your people well (including yourself) and to invest in future growth. Poor pricing is the single most common problem in the plumbing industry, and also the easiest to fix. Plus, private equity owned plumbing companies are raising the price ceiling far higher than in the past. There is room for you to charge enough to prosper.

4. Out-Network the Competition

By and large, plumbers are horrible networkers. Yet, building a personal network is important. Consumers call plumbers they know and trust first. Next, they call plumbers recommended by friends and neighbors, followed by online recommendations on social media. They turn to the recommendation sites and search engine marketing when all of these fail. By getting involved with the local chamber commerce, a service or civic club, and other groups, you expand your personal network.

Dunbar’s Number refers to the number of personal relationships the average person can sustain. It’s ranged from 150 to 250. People who join service clubs, for example, tend towards to the larger number since they also tend to be community centers of influence. In short, they’re the people other people call when looking for a recommendation, such as a good plumber. Join a service club with 65 members—like my Rotary Club—and you will not only draw business from club members but also from the recommendations they give to their friends. Just 65 members means a network of 10 to 16 thousand.

5. Sell From the Top

Plumbers often offer the lowest priced products first. Instead, sell from the top down and present the best product offering. Don’t lead with the standard water heater. Lead with the premium. Extol its benefits, then note that there are other less expensive ones. If the consumers express a desire for a lower price, note the features missing from the next one down, the shorter warranty, and so on. Some will want the most affordable, but not everyone. More will opt for a better product if they can afford it.

6. Line Up Consumer Financing

Speaking for affordability, line up multiple sources of financing. This includes the revolving credit type of financing that most manufacturers promote, but also local bank financing. The bank financing might include home equity loans. Now that rates are coming down and credit card debt is at an all-time high, home equity financing could be used to purchase the products the consumer wants while consolidating credit card debt so that the consumer has more money in his pocket every month.

7. Be Human

In a world of automation and artificial intelligence, people crave humanity. Be human. Have humans answer the phone and promote it. Look at everything you do as a consumer. Do you charge more for credit card payments? Does it irritate you when people do that to you as a consumer? Be human and human friendly.

Buy a copy of Matt Michel’s short, inspirational book, “Contractor Stories” on Amazon.