When starting a company, you need to understand a multitude of things first to be successful. Marketing is a huge first step in the right direction, finding a great CPA to help your tax cuts, putting systems in place to ensure your business is set up for success. But hiring and training employees is something you have to get a grip on quickly because you can have all the best equipment and service the top-of-the-line clients, but none of those things will matter if you don’t have employees to get the work done.
I know quite a few people in the industry who never want to expand their company for the sole reason that they have trained many employees to replace themselves. Whether it be to get themselves out of the field, help with marketing, or grow the company to multiple locations, it simply has never worked long term. Let me tell you. It is incredibly frustrating to put time and effort into someone for them to only last three days and then quit with no two weeks’ notice.
I have been there more times than I can count, and I have only been in the industry for 3 years, so trust me, I feel your pain. Something to think about, Hiring is one of the most critical systems in your business.
If you can put systems in place for payroll, training, upsells, bonus structure, and many more.
Life will get a lot easier for you with hiring.
Credit: Tyler Buell
In my short time of hiring and training, I have gone through at least ten employees, I have seen some hard workers, and I have seen some downfalls. I have had employees start on the same day and Uber off the job site, not even completing the workday.
But let me tell you that it’s ok if you want your company always to be a one-person show. If you’re going to expand your business, if you’re going to get out of the field, you have to take hiring seriously if you want multiple locations. So let’s say you finally did it, your marketing is blowing up, and your word of mouth is spreading faster than you can keep up, its time to pull the trigger on getting your first employee…this also relates to hiring your third, fourth, or fifteenth employee. But you know you have to get some help, and you don’t want to be booked four weeks out with bad reviews flowing in.
Hiring is an intensive process, especially when you are in the busy season. I think everyone can agree that hiring will bring your average man-hour down when you first put them on a truck with someone. Even if you have given them visual training and hands-on training, it takes a while to understand what you are doing. Just like any other field, you won’t learn everything you need to know overnight. I’m sure many of your business owners know how much you want to make per hour on one truck. It can take some time to put a crew together, have them get a lot of jobs done, and get jobs done efficiently.
Whether you are hiring your first employee or you are looking for your seventh office representative. I would strongly advise you to hire in the winter season to give the technician, sales rep, or office rep time to get into the groove of things before the spring rush hits. But if you have no choice and now is the time to pull the trigger and get someone on board, you can do this. Remember that practice makes perfect. It may require you to come into the office a little early or leave the office a little late, but the faster you get this new employee onboard, the fast you will make those profit margins you are looking for.
Talking with other business owners, you will get a million different answers on where to look for employees. Some will tell you to put ads posted on Indeed, Monster, Craigslist, and It doesn’t matter. You will probably go through 40 interviews before you find who you are looking for. Just keep your head up and don’t settle; you know what you are looking for. A big problem I have faced is when you have four interviews scheduled, and you waste half of your day waiting, and no-one shows up.
When hiring during the busy season, make sure you are in a place where you have a principal dedicated operations manager, or it may be yourself training.
Take baby steps
No one likes to be thrown into the fire, from greeting the customer, answering phones, invoicing to labor in the field. Have a repeatable process that will produce results. Once you get that employee in motion and they start to get the muscle memory, you’re going to see success, and the money starts to roll in on your investment.
One thing I know that will keep your employees happy during all the spring business and mayhem is appreciation. Employees like to know that you appreciate their hard work and Dedication. You don’t have to shell out 100 dollar bills every week to show that you care. It can all come down to just a simple thank you for your determination. Hiring employees in the busy season can be highly stressful, but I’m telling you the more you can be in the office, meeting with clients, doing maintenance on equipment in the shop while your techs are in the field, your company will multiply.
It is always scary to make the leap and hire a new employee, but you can’t build your company or your brand without them.
I have seen a lot of return with hiring people that are passionate about a hobby outside of work, if they have a hobby they love to spend their time doing, they can get a grip on a career like window cleaning and become passionate about your business and clients.
-Austin Grubbs