Max Capacity

News flash: It’s hot outside, and right now is the time for making the proverbial hay. Hopefully your technicians are working long hours soaked in sweat, the phone is ringing off the hook, you’ve got business lined up for weeks, and you’re smiling all the way to the bank. The Summer rush is what we lean on to put us in the black for the rest of the year. But that’s a normal Summer, right? Does that describe the Summer of 2022 so far for you? And even if it does, do you know you could still be leaving money and growth on the table?

When contractors hit their peak seasons it normally means slower, quieter times for us as business advisors. Many of my phone calls and regular appointments now are contractors requesting to dial back marketing spend, due to not being able to handle more work. So, let me ask you… is being as busy as possible always the best strategy or, now more than ever, should we be focused on being as efficient as possible too?  

A full appointment book is always the goal, but we’ve all noticed times are changing – and it’s not just BUSY that we’re after. We have to be busy and be smart about how we are staying busy. If these last two years have taught us anything it’s that other factors out of our control can and will affect your bottom line. So, you could be working just as hard and giving it all you’ve got, but the max capacity of business you can handle could look completely different than it did a year ago. And quite frankly, it might not be enough to keep you afloat.

Hiring and keeping good workers was a problem in the trades long before the employment shortage hit a national scale. It doesn’t take advanced math to figure out if you’re down three techs from last year, the remaining employees can only make up so much of the shortfall. Work them to the bone, but if you don’t adjust, you’re still going to shrink. Supply issues, equipment for installs and regular everyday parts disappearing from the shelves also means that business is being lost, or at least delayed as you anxiously wait on backorder lists. These are things we may not have an immediate answer for, but what we can do is strategize and optimize what we have for better results.

Bill Gates is one of the smartest businessmen of our time and he has a pretty funny (and genius) theory on hiring at Microsoft. Bill says he loves to hire lazy people to place into different roles throughout his company, then he sits back and watches them operate. His theory is that a lazy person will always find the easiest and most efficient way to do something, then he adapts the shortcuts they find that make sense into his normal procedures. There’s merit in that. There’s also an old saying, “work smarter, not harder,” that applies also (especially in triple-digit heat). Working hard just for the sake of working hard can be detrimental. You can feel like you’re accomplishing something because you’re breaking a sweat and giving it all you’ve got banging on a boulder with a rubber mallet, but if there’s a jackhammer available, you’re just wasting time and effort.

Here’s a question: What if we could combine the two: the famously strong work ethic of blue-collar contactors with smart strategy to get the most out of their effort? If I were Bill Gates, I would allow these lazy employees to stick around just long enough to serve the purpose he pointed out, then after the smarter ways of operation were identified I’d replace them immediately with a hard worker. Could your company work SMARTER and HARDER? What would it look like if you used the right tools and strategy AND gave it your all, with every drop of sweat gaining the most profit and making the most impact? Does going on the same amount of calls while increasing your average ticket by $50 - $100+ sound like a dream? The same amount of work for MORE dollars in, less windshield time, less complaints, more services and cross-sells at each stop? If you target the right customers it doesn’t have to be fantasy, and your company’s max capacity could be yielding MAX dollars.

Too many contractors are happy with just being busy, when the truth is you can be just as busy chasing price shoppers, giving quotes to people who can’t afford your services, and getting the runaround as you would be closing deals and making money. The question is, are you willing to invest in the STRATEGY to work harder AND smarter? Your competition is sure hoping you won’t.