The culture of your in-home service business, whether you’re in the electrical, plumbing or heating, ventilating and air conditioning industry, is pivotal for growth and success. The attitude and belief system instilled in your employees – front office dispatchers to the management team and service technicians interacting daily with clients – directly impacts monthly profits and their ability to close deals. If your team members aren’t bought into the business’ philosophy or products, how’re they supposed to passionately and genuinely sell your services to your customers?
Your culture even affects the hiring and onboarding process along with retention. According to a survey in 2019 conducted by Glassdoor, 77% of study respondents said a company’s culture is considered prior to applying. The Blue Collar Success Group’s three-day virtual Management Growth Academy, which is available for registration now, is your guaranteed solution to fix the culture crisis within your in-home services business. However, there are plenty of helpful points to get the ball rolling on your own – it’s not a quick fix, though.
Want to begin implementing change within your company today? Here are several important tactics for improving your business’ culture.
A feeling of importance: Foster feedback from your employees
A solid foundation for a company’s culture shouldn’t just consist of orders stemming from the top-down – owners and managers barking commands to sales representatives, office staff and technicians. Your employees should have input during the day-to-day operations of your in-home business. And creating room for feedback shows that everyone has value and a stake in the company’s overall growth.
Plenty of businesses get caught up in the hustle of a daily grind – and that’s no different within the in-home industry, as technicians are fulfilling service calls and office staff stay busy keeping your company a well-oiled machine. Taking a step back and utilizing active listening to create a consistent dialogue with employees, and following up with changes based on feedback, helps alleviate miscommunication between managers and workers. Through this tool, leadership finally gets a glimpse of what their employees’ opinions are of them, too!
Walk the walk, managers – and your employees will, too
“Walking the walk” sounds cliché, but it’s a must-have management strategy for any business. Whether you’re an owner or manager, your actions and decisions should set the example for every department within your in-home services company. Your technicians, dispatchers and additional support staff look to the leaders for guidance and a model of how the business should be operated daily.
And that means your actions should remain in line with the company’s values – consistency is key. If you’re not following the company’s stated purpose, mission or its pledge to provide the best service to customers, why would your employees feel compelled to do so as well? The business’ culture starts with you and, if high performance and personal standards are set, growth within even the lowest levels of the company will be encouraged.
Measure your company’s culture periodically
Changing or enhancing a company’s culture appears great on paper, but it’s not a one-time fix that’s never revisited again. It’s not a rushed process and requires regular upkeep. Owners and managers can measure the success of a culture change through periodic audits among company employees.
Showing the effectiveness of a mindset shift can be demonstrated via surveys for employees. It can extend to scheduled performance reviews for technicians and office staff as well. These steps help determine what areas of the business are stronger, based on the changes you initially implemented, and where efforts lack.
Recognize everyone’s achievements – big or small
Success within your in-home services company is determined by your employees’ motivation and job performance. And that’s why their work, whether it’s closing a major sales ticket or a customer’s rave review, shouldn’t go unnoticed. We all love to be recognized for our achievements – big or small.
Celebrating the success of your managers, technicians and additional staff is important to fostering growth within a business. It creates a positive, competitive atmosphere for young incoming hires, sets a standard for performance and gives added value to loyal employees.
Everyone’s success, ultimately, helps the business – and opens the door for improving employee retention, too! Why leave a company that loves to watch you achieve your goals? Deploy these helpful tips and commence your company’s culture change today!
