MAY 2019
YOUR SUCCESS IS DETERMINED BY THESE 2 FACTORS (DO YOU HAVE THEM?)
As a service-business owner, you have probably noticed that it’s getting more and more challenging to do business, and only a few will ultimately survive and thrive in the years to come. Your competitors are getting smarter and more aggressive. Some competitors are even pushing the limits on ethics just to win more customers. They’re becoming more talented when it comes to social media and marketing strategies. Many are learning to dominate local marketing like never before. The result is that any edges you’ve enjoyed in the past are potentially being wiped out — your competitors are either quickly catching up to you or have leapfrogged over you and are now creating distance. Meanwhile, your customers aren’t making it any easier. Many customers seem to be looking for the best service at the cheapest price, having been trained by Walmart and Costco to expect that much. And if they don’t get what they want, some will even threaten to give you a negative review that could hurt you. Other price-sensitive customers are researching costs online so they can question anything you write on your invoice, as if they don’t want you to have any profit margin. You know I’m only scratching the surface. Marketing costs are going up. Social media is getting noisier, and it’s getting harder for service businesses to
be heard and seen. People are busier and have less time, but they have become more demanding. And I haven’t even started talking about how hard it is to get people into your company so you can serve your customers at the highest level! Luckily, it’s not all bad news. Here at CEO Warrior, we’ve identified two key ways that the smartest, most successful service businesses win … and we’re sharing these with you so you can build your success plan with them. The first way that service businesses can win is to learn. You can’t just rest on your laurels and keep doing what you’ve always been doing. That’s a recipe for costly disaster and your company’s eventual death. Let me ask you this: Have you seen a Blockbuster video lately? Of course you haven’t. They were a massive company that people loved, and many thought they’d be around forever. The problem is that they rested on their laurels and didn’t bother to learn how the market was shifting. Today, Blockbuster is essentially dead. Unfortunately, that is the fate of service-business owners who think they can continue doing what they’ve always done to enjoy the success they’ve always enjoyed. NO. 1: LEARN TO GROW
The better way is to learn. No, you don’t have to go back to college to get a fancy degree; you need to seek out an expert who has built a successful company and teaches others to do the same. You need to connect with them and find out how they did it. Find the expert and model their strategies and tactics. Make this year the year you catch up with your learning to put your company on the right track to grow like never before. The other success factor that service- business owners need is action. Once you learn something, it’s in your head, but it needs to be acted upon in order to benefit you. This is the other challenge that service-business owners face: When I tell people that they need to learn, many say “Oh, I’m already learning; I’m in an organization that helps me already.” And I reply with, “Great. When was the last time you got something actionable from them that you can use to grow your business?” and “When was the last time you actually rolled up your sleeves and implemented whatever it was that they taught?” NO. 2: ACT TO GROW
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PROBLEMS CAN BE A GOOD THING FOR HVACR BUSINESSES
related, even if some seem catastrophic and others minor, and even if listing them causes additional pain! Put them in order. Don’t put them in order of what is the biggest pain versus the smallest pain; put them in order of what is the fastest and simplest to solve. Some will be quick and easy, and others will be more challenging. Rip the bandage off. If procrastination is a problem for you, especially when it comes to dealing with problems, then mark your calendar and make the next 30 days all about solving problems. Push yourself to solve as many of the problems on your list as possible. Solve the problems. Some of the simplest problems may just need to be addressed quickly, once, and that’s the end of it. But persistent problems may need to be addressed with systems (for procedural problems) or training (for people problems). Learn how to solve your problems. Some of the problems you face, especially the more complicated ones or the ones you don’t know how to address, can be solved with training. Find a mentor or coach who has mastered that challenge and learn from them. It might be easy to think of your problems as major stressors holding you back. But they really aren’t like that at all. Instead, the problems you face in your HVACR business are actually the friction points where growth is happening. By looking forward to your problems and eagerly tackling them, you can actually help your business grow. PROBLEMS AREN’T HOLDING YOU BACK
Instead of stressing out over your pain points, learn from them to grow your business.
As a the leader of an HVACR company, do you ever wake up in the morning and feel a knot in your stomach as you think about the day ahead? Chances are, you have.
of working on getting back to that equilibrium.
Leading an HVACR company, whether you’re the owner, a director, a manager, or even an informal leader, means stress! Projects don’t always go the way you want; employees don’t always make the right decisions; prospects don’t always have the same timeline or vision for what needs to be done as you do; customers have different priorities; suppliers don’t always deliver on time; technology breaks down when we need it most; and outcomes don’t always turn out the way we want. The list of potential stressors goes on and on. As a leader, you probably spend your work time dealing with problems and your downtime dreading them. But there’s another way to look at problems, and it can actually be a benefit to you. You might not agree with that statement at 3 a.m. when you can’t fall asleep because all the problems at work are keeping you up. However, keep reading, because you might change your mind. Here’s why I think business problems are good things: Problems reveal what needs to change for growth to happen. Your body works in a similar way: It wants to maintain a certain equilibrium of health. It knows the range of healthiness that it needs to exist in. When you experience pain, it’s your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong, but it’s also your body’s way PROBLEMS ARE GOOD THINGS It sounds crazy to say it, but problems are good things to have.
That’s why broken bones will fuse back together, infections will turn red and swell but eventually go back to normal, and even sore muscles will grow bigger. Your business has pain too — the pain comes from the problems that you stress about. These problems are the broken bones and over-capacity muscles of your business. Unfortunately, unlike your body, many HVACR business leaders don’t address the pain in their businesses the way their brains address pain in their bodies. Though your body works automatically to address pain and get back to health, many HVACR leaders simply stress about the pain and don’t do anything about it. As a result, bad employees stay with the company instead of being let go; money continues to be tight; customers continue to push your buttons and ask for more than you can give; trucks keep breaking down; return on marketing investments continues to decline; and on and on. But I say problems are a good thing, because if we treat them the way our bodies treat pain, we recognize them as a signal of larger issues. If you want to grow your HVACR company (or the department you lead), start with the pain points. Start with the problems. Here’s what to do: List your problems. Instead of wondering “How do I grow the business?” ask yourself, “What problems are stressing me out right now?” List them all — even if they seem
Problems … maybe they’re not so bad after all!
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The problem is that action is harder than it sounds. When you attend an organizational event and get concepts and theories, it takes a lot of work to turn those concepts and theories into action, which means many of the actions don’t get done when you get back to your office. The better approach is to find an expert who is doing what you want to do, learn real strategies (not just concepts) from them, and turn their strategies into actions. There’s an immediately noticeable difference between trying to act on concepts versus actually acting on strategies.
actionable steps. Revisit this simple plan throughout 2019 and if you ever find yourself struggling or noticing that your competitors are outpacing you, it’s usually because you are not doing one or both of these things. If you choose CEO Warrior to help you grow and succeed in 2019, here’s how we will help: We have an event coming up June 4-7. We’ll be sharing our $32+ Million Service Business Playbook that explains how my business partner and I built our $32+ million/year company. We share our step-by-step strategies, blueprints, and even swipe files. And during the event, we help you build an implementation plan so you can put all of your learning into action when you get back to your office. (There’s even a Million Dollar Promise that guarantees you’ll get a ton of value from the event on the very first day or we’ll refund all of your money.) You can learn more and get tickets at ServiceBusinessEdge.com. list to get started, then list the top 10 most common jobs you do and just run a Beat the Clock contest on those most common jobs first. Then, come back to this step later for the rest of your jobs. Second, hold an all-company meeting and share this Beat the Clock challenge with your team. Ask them if they love the feeling of proving how good they are, especially against the average, and generate some friendly competition among your team members. Introduce this Beat the Clock challenge, and tell them, “Starting tomorrow, we want you to do each job at the same level of great service but we want you to try and beat the clock on this job!” Third, starting immediately, put the average Beat the Clock time at the top of each work order so your team
Your success hinges on your ability to learn and act so you can grow and remain competitive. I hope to see you at Service Business Edge to give you my $32+ Million Service business Playbook and the implementation plan for your company.
Mike Agugliaro
SUMMARY
Want to grow your business? It’s simple: Learn and act. THAT is your success plan. It seems simple, yet ironically, very few actually do it. Start by finding an expert and learning from them. Then build what you learn into
MAKE MORE MONEY IMMEDIATELY
If you want a step-by-step way to make more money, here’s how to do so in your business today:
member knows how long they have to Beat the Clock on the job.
Fourth, when a job is done, have the employee write the total hours and minutes it took them on the work order when they hand it back into the office. Fifth, hold a contest with a leaderboard and give out small, fun prizes. Award a weekly winner to the person with the most accumulated clock-beating times for that week. Sixth, revisit the Beat the Clock numbers every 6–12 months and shave a bit of time off the average duration to reflect your company’s improved efficiency and to keep the challenge exciting (but don’t sacrifice quality for speed).
First, list the jobs you do and how long each job takes. If that’s too big of a
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INTRODUCING …
THE SECRETS OF BUSINESS MASTERY TOOLKIT
CEO WARRIOR IS BRINGING YOU SOMETHING YOU CAN REALLY SINK YOUR TEETH INTO
The Secrets of Business Mastery Toolkit is new as of March 20, and it is only available to you through CEO Warrior. Nobody else has it! With The Secrets of Business Mastery Toolkit , you’ll be able to breakdown your business and your life into 12 easy- to-follow segments to really take action and watch your life transform.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO, MIKE?
It takes work, determination, and commitment. But if you are serious about changing your life forever, then The Secrets of Business Mastery Toolkit is designed to help you achieve the success you desire.
WHAT ELSE DOES IT OFFER, MIKE?
That’s the easy part! Like I said before, it’s broken down into segments I call modules.
• Module No. 9: Master Your Culture and Team
• Module No. 10: Master Your Service
I cover the following 12 areas affecting your business and your life:
• Module No. 11: Master Your Systems
• Module No. 1: Master Yourself
• Module No. 12: Master Your Future
• Module No. 2: Master Your Relationships
Want to learn more about how The Secrets of Business Mastery Toolkit will be the game-changer you’ve been waiting for? Then go to ServiceBusinessToolkit.com.
• Module No. 3: Master Your Health
• Module No. 4: Master Your Time
It doesn’t get any easier than that … or does it?
• Module No. 5: Master Your Business
(Yes, it does, and check out the bonus just for you!)
• Module No. 6: Master Your Numbers
• Module No. 7: Master Your Marketing and Sales
ServiceBusinessToolkit.com
• Module No. 8: Master Your Money
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Our Newest LiveCast ‘SERVICE BUSINESS GROWTH’
“Service Business Growth” is the latest in a monthly series of LiveCasts brought to you by CEO Warrior. We introduce a variety of topics to move the needle in your business, so you can take stress off your to-do list. Recently we did a training sharing “7 Strategies To Help You Get More Than 700 Leads Next Week.” If you missed it, you can catch the replay here:
CEOwarrior.com/leadsreplay
Find out what’s coming up next!
Go to ServiceBusinessGrowth.com and reserve your seat right now! THE LAST SERVICE BUSINESS EDGE Service Business Edge: The Secret Blueprint to Growing Your Business
This is your last chance! We’re shutting down Service Business Edge after this final event in June. Make sure you attend while you still can to get the $32+ Million Dollar Service Business Playbook before you miss out forever. From lead generation and hiring to branding and leading a team, we cover it all ... and we hand you more than 170 strategies, tactics, swipe files, and blueprints that you can implement immediately into your business. Get more wealth, freedom, and market domination. Learn about the last Service Business Edge (including our legendary speaker lineup) at ServiceBusinessEdge.com. OUR LAST EVENT WILL BE HELD IN JUNE. DATES: JUNE 4-7, 2019
Go to SERVICEBUSINESSEDGE.COM for details and registration.
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IF YOU’RE NOT DOING THIS ONE THING, YOU’RE LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE
When I ask what service-business owners are doing to generate revenue, their first answer is lead generation, which fills the pipeline with people who may turn into customers. But if you want more money, and you want to keep your team busy with revenue-generating strategies, then you need to be doing something else too: People often get so focused on new leads coming in that they forget about the leads, prospects, and customers they already have. Your existing pipeline of leads, prospects, and customers are potential sources of revenue just waiting to be tapped … all you have to do is reach out to them. Your business is wasting a lot of money if you’re not following up with people who respond to your advertising but don’t take the step of buying your product or service. Think about this. If someone responded to your advertising by calling you, cutting out and sending in a coupon, asking you for a brochure, or coming into your store, there WAS some level of interest there. The problem is that most business owners forget about these people if they didn’t buy the first time around. Follow-up.
doing laundry. Sure it’s nice to have new clothes … but you have perfectly good clothes in your closet, so why aren’t you wearing those? So, keep generating leads, but build a powerful follow-up system to connect with your existing list of leads, prospects, and customers. This existing list already knows you, (the leads know OF you … your customers have actually HIRED you!) so you can follow up and market to them. Even if they said no in the past doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in future work. There are four key reasons for why this happens, and I’d like to share them with you. The first is trust. Maybe earlier the lead didn’t trust you or your team so they didn’t hire you. But if you continue to follow up with them, they’ll get to know you, and that leads to liking you, and that leads to trusting you. Follow up with service and value to show that you care, and you’ll create the trust that was missing and turn those leads and prospects into customers. The second reason why potential buyers get put off from buying is because they feel the price is too high. If your price is too high (or too low!) then people might not buy. That being said,
sometimes it’s not the price itself but how you frame that price in the context of your presentation. The third reason also relates to price, but in a different way: In this instance, the prospect wants the product or service, but the full price is out of their reach or they simply don’t have the money to spend right now. To overcome this, split the payments into installments. This is a proven winner. EVERYONE can manage small, bite- size payments, so be sure to create a payment plan if you sell high-priced items. Infomercials use them for a reason! A big fourth reason why people didn’t buy from you the first time is because they just didn’t need the service as urgently as they thought they did. There’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe their priorities will change. When you follow up with people, you can reconnect with them at different times and you may find that their level of trust, financial situation, or level of urgency has changed. There’s a saying that marketers say: “There’s money in the list.” This means that you shouldn’t just focus on lead generation. It’s important, but it’s only part of the story. Develop mastery in follow-up and you’ll make more money with less effort.
A business owner not following up is like buying new clothes instead of
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2 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SECRETS FOR SERVICE BUSINESSES It doesn’t matter what type of service business you operate; you need to use social media to help with your marketing. Down below are two social media marketing tips that you need to know.
SECRET NO. 1: MAINTAIN CONSISTENT BRANDING
Are you looking for some plumber marketing ideas? Maybe you’re
marketing your HVAC business and need a new strategy. Or you may be marketing your furniture business and don’t know where to turn. Regardless of what service you’re in, social media is the key.
Your brand has more power than you realize. Your brand is your power in modern marketing. People trust good brands, and they buy services from the people they trust. The goal is to create a brand that delivers a consistent message and provide useful advice to your followers. Focused messaging helps to build a brand around providing extra value to followers. Your social media branding has to be consistent with the messages you’re putting out there. You can’t just tell clients that you provide more useful information than any other business and then do nothing. They’re going to go to your social media pages and see you’re full of crap. Establish your brand and its message. Then use your social media profiles to stay consistent with that brand and message. SECRET NO. 2: USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO GENERATE CALLS Here’s one of the key social media secrets for service businesses. Your social media pages can become lead- generating machines. You just don’t see it yet because you rarely do anything with yours. Let’s focus on using social media to generate calls. What do you have to do? Here’s a couple of social media marketing tips that might help: Here’s the key.
Let me hit you with some stats.
• Keep your profiles active. Answer questions, and have useful content posted on them. A dead page isn’t going to attract any followers. • Make the content easy to share. A follower may not need what you’re selling with a post, but they may know someone who does. • Choose the right platform. If you’re serving the consumer market, Twitter and Facebook probably serve your needs best. If you’re a B2B company, get on LinkedIn. • Don’t be afraid to use ads. If you’ve got some awesome content to share, invest in it a little. Boost it so it grabs people’s attention. Remember, once is never enough when it comes to your marketing. Keep putting your business in front of your followers’ faces. It’s all about providing value consistently. If you keep doing that, you’ll start generating more calls from social media. If you want three more social media marketing tips for your service business, see our article at CEOWarrior.com/ marketing-tips-service-business.
Facebook has damn near 1.5 billion active users daily. That’s a huge audience that you’re not reaching if you don’t have a social media marketing strategy. Almost 75 percent of your customers will check social media before making a purchasing decision. That means three out of every four people will look you up on social media before taking a conversation further. What are they going to think about your barren profile that has no followers?
And that’s assuming you even have profiles to begin with.
It’s the 21st century. You can’t stick to the traditional marketing that worked 20 years ago. You need to understand the social media secrets for service businesses that will get you ahead.
Here’s the good news.
Service businesses, by and large, are pretty slow to adopt social media. If you do it now, you’re going to overtake your competitors on one front of the marketing battle. The question now is simple:
How?
That’s what I’m going to cover with these two social media marketing tips.
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PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
INSIDE In 2019, Your Success Is Determined By These 2 Factors (Do You Have Them?)
1
Problems Can Be a Good Thing for HVACR Businesses
2
Make More Money Immediately
3
The Secrets of Business Mastery Toolkit
4
‘Service Business Growth’
5
Service Business Edge
5
If You’re Not Doing This One Thing, You’re Leaving Money on the Table
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2 Social Media Marketing Secrets
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STOP THE PRESSES
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CEO WARRIOR
We almost didn’t make it in time before the printing company printed these newsletters … but we BEGGED them to make one last-minute change because we’ve got a huge announcement that couldn’t wait …
Brian Kurtz, Mike Michalowicz, and Dan Kuschell. (So much business-growing wisdom from that line-up!) Here’s the amazing announcement: We’ve got one more legendary guest who will be joining us that day … the one and only Lou Ferrigno — yes, the original Hulk! He’ll be speaking to us about how to dominate life and business, and you won’t want to miss his insight! Go to ServiceBusinessEdge.com right now to request your invite … and see the Hulk this June!
… and it could totally change your plans for June.
You see, on June 4-7, we’re holding our very last Service Business Edge event.
And we have a legendary speaker line-up, including Jay Abraham,
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