by Jim Hinshaw
It has been a rather tough year for lots of people. The economy has slowed, for many of us in the trades that has impacted our business. Even more of an impact is the weather, those of us in the HVAC industry are affected by the absence of a harsh winter, and hurt even more when summer is slow to start up, or does not appear at all. I have many friends still in the HVAC industry in Phoenix, it is 94 degrees on Friday afternoon the last week in June, many years it would be 115 this time of year.
Guys my age are susceptible to age related ailments, the body can only do so much, and the sins of the past can catch up. Stuff you did in your 20s can come back to haunt you in the later years, specifically knees, backs and joints of any kind. Just had hernia surgery, three at once. Yes, I am an overachiever, three. You don’t realize how much you are affected by an ailment until you get the work done, and you understand how much you are affected by the constant pain associated with an injury.
Back to my article. Why are you here? At work, it is easy to fall into the trap of a “poor me” party. You know, when you are having a coffee break and someone drifts by and says the interest rates just climbed another point. My co-worker Carol Longacre (her and her husband own Longacre Construction) said that every time the interest rate jumps a point, about 30,000 people in our marketplace either get locked out of buying a home, or have to look at a cheaper home. When the interest rates climb the down payment required climbs as well. That is where the poor me party starts. We begin to look at our current situation, we may never be able to sell this home for what we want, buying the next one is going to be difficult. What if the job market slows, am I at risk? Can I get insurance to protect me, the list is huge.
My advice, stop it. Don’t get into those conversations. Instead, take a minute to reflect on why you are there. It just may be that you are the only positive person others will meet today. We see folks who thrive on disaster, and share gloom and doom to all who will listen. Be the person who is constantly looking for the pony in the room full of pony poop. Not sure I can put that in print, but my editor will let me know. You will never know the mountain top experience without going through the valley. I have a couple hundred quotes about staying positive, I do believe it is essential to our mental health.
To my friends who are church goers, the phrase that comes to mind is: you may be the only Bible someone sees. And there are a lot of people watching us, watching how we act and react when things turn south.
Take this a step further, how to keep the morale up with your employees, your team, when the business is not where you need it to be. Just had a conversation with several members on one of our Advisory Board calls, where our members meet each week to talk business, compare numbers, see where others have had success. Two mentioned that they were down from last year, one was frustrated that he couldn’t get the phone to ring or keep the team busy. The second said that he was using the slow time to look at each component of his business, service/replacement/maintenance to improve processes. He was setting up procedures on how to do each element of his offering, from how to answer the phone to how to get paid for the installation. So rather than get mad about the slow down, he was using it to improve the company.
If your personal projects are not going the way you wanted, relax, take a deep breath, re-focus and start thinking on the positive elements that are in your control. We cannot control the weather, the economy, politics is an area we have very little influence over, but what we can control is how we react to all the things going on around us. Be confident, not arrogant. People like confidence. Webster says the definition of an encourager is: someone who inspires courage, spirit, and confidence. Be the person who sees the positive things people are doing on a day-to-day basis, at every level. It is easy to compliment the super star salesperson who just landed the biggest customer you company has ever had, lots harder the thank the young intern who got the colors right on the new logo.
Today we have a large sector of employees who are tentative and not sure of their place in the company, some may be afraid of their job, since we do have instances of takeovers that cleaned house after the sale took place. You don’t want employees that are holding back, you want a team that can look at a project and think: what if…
What if we did this type of approach, what if we did a virtual sales call, what if we changed how we got paid for our services, what if we have multiple levels of membership, list goes on. Encourage your team to think bigger, and in new ways. In today’s world, the traditional methods of marketing and sales just may not be as effective as before. In addition, the traditional ways of treating employees may need to be changed as well, encouragement is needed in all of our lives, and families as well. Thank your spouse and family members for letting you work the hours you have to work to make things happen today.
Thanks for listening, we’ll talk later.
