Multi truckers... How did you learn to "Let it go"?

[Mikey P]

After doing some redos that my helper just went through the paces on I just don't know If I'll ever be able to deal with employees doing less then what I would.

I got so angry I couldn't help but chew him out right then and there. It really effected me that my "company" was not living up to the creed on our shirts of "Do it right the first time"

At what point in your expansion did you finally get some sleep and not give a shit anymore if not every job came out 100%?








please don't try and force feed me the "my techs clean better then I ever did" BS.

 

[RandyHilburn]

Our original business plan was to run a multi-truck operation. The expansion of our business and number of trucks depends on the number of customers we service, scheduling and the productivity of our techs. Currently we run four trucks and all nine of our techs are hard working women.

Producing excellent results is always our goal. However, no service company of any size hits a home run every time. Depending on the cirumstances (including employees that occasionally have a bad day) we sometimes miss the mark.

That said, I set high expectations and I'm out in the field everyday following up with the customers and making unannounced visits on the job sites of each team. I make corrective suggestions as we go and give praise (or buy lunch) when I catch them doing a great job. That's how we do it.

I care about the satisfaction of every customer, but also understand that I don't have to be behind the wand at every job in order for our customers to be happy.

 

[KevinL]

Pretty scary that no one can answer your question.

 

[Al]

My son Shawn was not an issue at all, when we first went out alone @ 17 he already had years of experience from working with me, he is awesome on the job.

Kyle has been here almost 2 years now and there was a time when it was just like you described above yelling and all, I thought I would never be able to send him alone. I don't remember exactly when but sometime in the first year we got that fixed. No he is not as thorough as me but he is very good. We follow up on jobs and Kyle gets very nice comments and a few customers have called on their own to compliment. He gets a lot of tips too.

How we did it was with me going with Kyle again after the initial pile of re dews. I checked everything he did, he checked everything I did. Our cleaning system is a lot of work, so I spent a lot time on the truck watching the guy's work and finding ways through organization to make things easier. Kyle would make 100 trips to the truck, when going to get a tool from the truck he would walk right by something that needed to be returned, that drives me nuts.

Now Kyle has it down to a science, when he goes out to a job he gets a folder with invoice bizz cards, referral sheet, five a rounds and a check list that he must fill out, every step is on it from door mat to 5 arounds. If he didn't pre- scrub it's on the list with reason why. When the folder comes back it should be empty except for invoice, referral sheet and check list.
If the five arounds are still in the folder I want to know why? Sometimes there were no neighbors or what ever the reason the list helps a lot.
I still end up on the truck quite a bit at this point but I let Kyle handle everything, greeting the customer and quoting the job and collecting the check, I'm just a helper.

Kyle has never been late or missed a day of work and always goes the extra mile helping me build this business and he has a lot of enthusiasm for the job. 8)

 

[Ed]

When our business got to the point where I simply could not keep all the plates spinning. When I couldn't give my full attention to the things that I needed to be doing to keep those trucks making money, bids, marketing, etc.

This business is a relationship business and based on your posts it seems like you have a great relationship with all your customers. Great relationships are flexible and forgiving. If your company is pleasant, professional and genuinely caring, the customer will understand that we are all human and we all make mistakes, as long as we stand behind our service and remedy the problem.

I don't think you can run a multi-truck business and not have call backs. You can certainly do things such as Al described above to reduce them. But I learned a long time ago that you can't EXPECT what you don't INSPECT. It takes continued involvement and follow up both with customers and techs, as Al and Randy also pointed out.

I found it easier to get completely off the truck than to have a tech running one and me running another. That meant that I was tied up working and not available for the times when issues did pop up.

Actually my thought is that it is a paradigm shift. You have to change the way you look at your business and at your role in the business. Unfortunately for an owner, mistakes are a part of the learning process. We all made them (and still do), we are just more forgiving of ourselves than we are of our employees. When mistakes are made, or a call back happens, we smother the customer with concern and fast. Follow up until we are absolutely sure that our customer is going to call us next time they need cleaning.

We are looking for a manager to run our carpet cleaning division, and an operations manager for the entire business. We recently hired a marketing manager. I've had a paradigm shift myself. Either I've realized that I need help or that I'm incredibly lazy. Probably a combination of both. The beauty of owning your own business is you can create new jobs for yourself and re-structure your company to make it happen. You can't do that as an employee or an owner/operator.

 

[Scott]

One of the best techs we had was 19 yrs old. According to our customers, he was the best technician we ever had, including me! Ouch. It wasn't me saying it, it was our customers.

So I did a little study to find out why and come to find out it wasn't the carpet cleaning but the way he listened. This young man was a great listener. When a customer pointed out a spot he carefully listened and said something like: "so if I understand correctly, this spot is probably coffee and has been here for about a year?" Then when he'd clean that particular spot, he would re-engage with the customer that he was treating the spot with a spotter made to dissolve coffee.

This kid taught me a lot about the psychology of the sale and helping make happy customers refer us. As for thoroughness, he was adequate but not as good as me and several technicians since. However, it isn't always about clean carpet; it's about solving problems and giving the appearance of complete caring. He was tuned in to the concerns of the customer 1st and foremost and would absolutely ensure they knew he addressed those specific concerns the best he could.

Here it is six years after I let him go (he developed some very bad personal issues toward the end that nobody could fix but himself) and once in awhile we still have people asking about him. He touched a great many lives and people loved him for it. He was personable, friendly, caring, and loved to make people happy. All of 19 yrs old, too.

He set the precedence in our company to Hire the Smile and Teach the Technical.

One thing that has helped us significantly over the years is our somewhat comprehensive training program. During the time a tech is in training not only will he be with the trainer on the truck doing OJT every day, but also studying our training manual with written tests. After their probationary period, we also send them to IICRC-approved courses for further training.

What's really cool is hearing a tech-trainee come back from IICRC school bragging how much he knew compared to much of the rest of the class of seasoned vets.

Scott

 

[adamh]

I guess you have to live with a good job instead of a great job.

You and I have talked about this before. I wish I had an answer.

That is why multi-truck companies make less money than you.

 

[LeeCory]

At first I had a hard time sending the guys out on their own because I know that not everything is done exactly as I would do them.

When I am on the truck I have a hard time handing the wand over. But after a guy has worked for you for over a year you have to begin to trust in his abilities. After the guys get a few compliments it begins to get easier.

This is the first summer that I am not on the truck full time.

To answer your question, it doesn't take very long to get used to NOT going out on the truck in the morning....

When you are on the truck all the time it is hard to think about adding any other services. Now that I am not out on the truck I am going to take the opportunity to go take WRT and ASD training in early August. I've wanted to do this for years but when you work all the time it keeps getting put off. I've decided to take my second van and set it up for water extraction instead of carpet cleaning.

If you are out doing ALL the work, you can never do the OTHER things you would like to do.

Give them a little trust and let them go (just keep an eye on things) and you will see that you get used to it real quick!

 

[Tony Neville]

You never get over the fact that the tech doesn't do it exactly like you would!!

That being said have him go with you to correct the problem so that next time he knows what to do to fix it. Yelling while it makes you feel better doesn't help solve anything, take him to breakfast and explain why you got so mad and apologize.

You cannot be everywhere so you put systems in place to try and cover as much as you can keep moving forward.

Tony

 

[Greenie]

2nd Best Carpet Care, when you can't afford Mike, but are easily pleased.

 

[Jay D]

Great thread, please keep it going...... :mrgreen:

 

[Dolly Llama]

indeed, a very good thread with great answers.
nothing for me to add that hasn't already been said

My transition out of the truck pt time was forced.
We had too much going for me to be on the van every day.

truth is, you'll never think they can do it better than you.
and that may very well be a fact.

As has been mentioned, (and worth repeating again)
it isn't so important that they clean perfectly, it's far more important that your custys LOVE them.

when did I come to trust the little genies with out me around???
Some time ago I was running the wand and said,

"I'm the greatest CCer ever"!!!!

Cody looked at me and said,

"No, I AM"!

that brought great joy to heart


..l.T.A.

 

[Jimmy L]

The good ones will always learn from you and then...........start their own company!

And...................take your customer list from you!



My advice, don't send someone who can't speak english!


Spend some time with Ken Snow and see how he does it.

 

[Steve Toburen]

When to do it? When you have hit the "point of pain" and it is a greater danger to your personal happiness/ fulfillment/ financial future staying chained to the wand than occasionally having to exercise great self control to avoid beating a self-absorbed and cluieless tech into a bloody pulp. As in everyting else in life it is a trade-off with consequences whichever road you choose to walk.

How to do it? Hmmm, good question ...

1. You must be motivated. Consider carefully the "when" above. Once you start down the employee road it is difficult and demoralizing to go back. So make sure you the pain of staying on the truck as an owner-operator is greater than the inevitable frustrations of working with employees.

2. Define a "good job" through the eyes of the customer, not your exacting eyes. A wise man once defined "perfection" as "Sufficient for its intended purpose". If we apply this principle to carpet cleaning I would call a "good job" one that appears clean, our company procedures were followed (more or less) and the homeowner was delighted.

3. Train, train, train and not just on the technical side. 80% of how the customer decides if a good job or a bad job (as Scott mentions above with his anecdote on the 19 year old tech) is based on the relationship they have with the person doing the work.

4. Make your people "accountable"- Good job- praise and bonus. Bad job? Time for a chat. Do surprise 'just stopping by" inspections on a random basis- at least once a week.

5. "Make it easier to do it right than do it wrong"- I really dislike his speaking style but these words by Michael Gerber of E-Myth fame are transformational. Simplify your procedures so that almost anyone can do them.

6. Always be "hiring"- It does wonders for your current employees to know that there are three or four hungry "candidates in waiting" for their job.

7. Don't put up with looooozer employees- If they are not a happy, moral, hardworking individual that you enjoy seeing and working with each day, get rid of them and move on. How? See #6 above. Life is too short to spend it with marginal people. Plus what do you owe your clients?

These are my thoughts on "letting go". (It IS a painful process.)

Steve Toburen
Director of Training
Jon-Don's Strategies for Success

PS Oh yeah. #8- Quit caring soooooo darn much. Or better said, "learn to pick your battles."

 

[Jay D]

At what $ volume do you hire a capable Pt or FT helper/future tech for a 1 truck operation? We make the bills now but could'nt imagine adding a ft guy and his responsibilitys, family etc. Changing your mind set from owner/technician to owner/manager must be quite a shift to make. My BACK aches tell me I need to make some changes if I want to stay in this business. I really enjoy what I do now and hate to give up the customer contact and the satisfaction of doing a great job for them. Might need to start developing more marketing/manager and less technician mentality. :?

 

[Larry B]

Untill you hit the point you can hire a few people and put another person in charge you will not sleep good every night.

The problem with hiring your first 1 or 2 people is no matter how much you show them something they will not always do it the way you want it done. You will also always notice your employees mistakes before you notice yours.

We have 11 people working and its broken down like this.

Mess up once get warned.
Mess up twice get fired.

Your employyes will never be the light of your life and by that I am pointing out that if your employees wanted to show how good they were at carpet cleaning to every customer than they would have their own truck taking your business. If this is the first person you have hired then you have a ways to go because you may go through 50 people before you find that 1 that helps your company stand out.

So in short if you want sleep dont start hiring people because its a pain in the A$$.

 

[steve g]

mikey I think your problem is your expecting others to care as much as you do, that just does not happen, the level of service and job you provide can't be duplicated, because its not like making a hamburger or doing something that is the same each and every time, people are willing to choose something that is mediocre everytime rather than take the chance of it being really good or really BAD, case in point why is mcdonalds so successful, what you need is a simple system that focuses on doing the jobs the same way each and every time, this is the system you implement, yeah its not mikeys services just like mcdonalds doesn't' put your special sauce you like or the special seasoning on it that you like, or cook it a little less or a little more. also keep in mind a mediocre carpet cleaner who can do just an average job, but has a good ability to bullshit and talk to the customer will do a better perceived job in the customers eyes maybe than even you.

 

[Art Kelley]

After doing some redos that my helper just went through the paces on I just don't know If I'll ever be able to deal with employees doing less then what I would.

I got so angry I couldn't help but chew him out right then and there. It really effected me that my "company" was not living up to the creed on our shirts of "Do it right the first time"

At what point in your expansion did you finally get some sleep and not give a shit anymore if not every job came out 100%?
please don't try and force feed me the "my techs clean better then I ever did" BS.

It's very possible that you are to blame , also. I think you overworked the little monkey. Wasnt he trying to do the workload that you both normally do? Either that or he has never had that autonomy and was overwhelmed. There is a big difference between working with someone and working alone especially for someone without a great deal of experience. Just let him fix the redos and see for himself the repercussions of his actions. It all comes with time and experience. You learn the most from those callbacks. I know I did.

 

[Mikey P]

You're right on Art.

Both those Jobs were from the same LO n G day.


Doesn't change the fact that he will never clean as well as I do for MY customers.

 

[Chris A]

I seriously doubt he's personally going through the motions, he's probably doing what he thinks is right, but accidentally moving the wand too fast, not dry stroking, etc. Bitching at him hard is just gonna lead to him leaving. Care to share what the re-do's were?

 

[Mikey P]

Still dirty edges on a white pile and still dirty grout.

Both situations came clean on the redo.


Like I said though, those two jobs were not really my point.

 

[Vincent Feehan]

You can't send a newbie out solo at your work load and have perfect jobs,

Dont sweat the small stuff...


Vince

 

[nickreal]

Change your tag line to....

"Connoisseur Carpet Cleaning. We do it nice, cause we do it twice"

and don't worry about it.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

LMAO

 

[Chris A]

Still dirty edges on a white pile and still dirty grout.

Both situations came clean on the redo.


Like I said though, those two jobs were not really my point.

Well sumbitch, I figured wickbacks or streaking for sure. Never mind then, kick his ass Seabass.

 

[hogjowl]

I think Mikey needs to go spend a week with Bob.

To learn how good his life really is.

 

[bob vawter]

That's the most PROFOUND statement by Marty....all month!
Mikey would come home a changed man......

i jus hope he don wanna change ME...somehow!