One engineer, additional sales of £3,125 in 12 days.
This does not include pre-planned maintenance, extended servicing or additional services passed over for quotes.
You may not think that this is possible for you but let me explain how it is.
I’ve been out in the field (not in a field with sheep type of thing), getting out there, as an engineer, for a few reasons:
- Research of the financial benefits of recommendations, compliance and the offering of other services.
2. A good friend of mind was short staffed and needed help.
3. I like to keep my hand in, one of the many benefits of being self-employed is the variety, it’s also reintroduced me to the muscles I forgot I had 😂. (It’s been a while).
How is this sort of income possible?
For many years I’ve been able to see what’s going wrong out there on customer’s sites, what I didn’t know was the financial implications and how much difference to your bottom line it would make. Now I know and want to share this with you.
This sort of income increase is purely from doing the job in the way that it’s supposed to be done. Important points to note here are:
- This is not about overselling or ‘trying’ to sell.
- These are honest and ethical sales, necessary recommendations for compliance alone. I would never make a sale that wasn’t needed.
- No additional time is needed. There’s this belief that engineers haven’t got the time to make recommendations, to evaluate a site correctly or talk to the customers in any depth. It’s a “head down, service the extinguishers and get out of there” view. All work allocated to me was completed in the time given.
It’s not difficult, this is the crazy thing! Money is going down the drain because engineers lack the training and skills to do their job properly.
How to do it!
Simple, by doing the job properly. Unfortunately, many engineers are not doing this! (Even engineers that have had external training).
As I move through a site, I’m observing what’s there, what’s needed and noticing anything that isn’t right, (taking no additional time). I’m talking to the customers about their legal responsibilities, other services, what is needed on site and how I’m there to make sure that everything is safe and compliant.
I’m explaining recommendations to the customer so that they understand what I’m suggesting and why. Being interested in them and what they need to know is essential.
Types of jobs/sites
There was one bigger job of 110 extinguishers, (recommendations here were for approximately £1,000) the rest varying between 2 and 25 extinguishers, (£2,125).
What is being missed?
- Not enough equipment, engineers are not understanding floor areas, fire ratings and travel distances.
- Not providing suitable equipment for specific risks. Engineers are not observing or not aware of the environment that they are working in or identifying classifications of fire.
- Incorrectly positioned equipment that could be relocated is overlooked. Engineers are not paying attention to the needs of the customers or working to the British Standards.
- Fire signage either incorrect, damaged or missing. This is being overlooked.
- Logbooks not present or discussed with customers.
- Other services not brought to the customer’s attention.
- Legal obligations not discussed with customers.
A Customer’s Feedback
“We have just had our annual inspection of our extinguishers here in the office. I just wanted to pass on the message that the engineer, I believe his name was Stephen James was absolutely lovely, so kind and knowledgeable.
He did his job perfectly and made sure that we had all of the resources that we needed, gave us some good insight on what we could do in the future to make our office safer and was just an all-round lovely man. We really appreciate it.”
Customers Notice!
Paying attention to detail and taking the time to talk to your customers pays dividends. They notice!
Is this increased income a one-off?
It would be easy to think that these customer’s premises were just bad examples, not looked after from a company that doesn’t care. This is far from the case, this is very much in line with what I have found out there for years, it’s far more common than you think.
There are variables, not all recommendations are going to be accepted and not every engineer can make increased sales if they work with fixed price contracts for example.
Overheads need to be taken off this figure.
All I can do is give a truthful snapshot of what I achieved in 12 days.
Work out the figures for yourself
£3,125 in 12 days, multiply this by your number of engineers and what’s the figure? Make it 40% to cover variables and overheads, is this appealing?
In the same way that honesty is important to me with customers on-site, it matters just as much as I speak to you. I would never recommend training that wasn’t necessary. I’ve been offered work that I didn’t think was needed so turned it down.
My recommendations for training
With the best will in the world not every engineer is going to engage with training and implement their learning. My recommendation to you would be to train your most committed and dedicated engineers. The ones that want to do a good job and are engaged in the company and the process.
To make this organic growth happen for you, the training that your engineers need is as follows :
BS5306- Part 8 De-mystified.
Positioning and Placement. This is essential for your engineers to create compliance and make the necessary additional recommendations. I have found that engineers don’t understand fire ratings, how to evaluate a site for risks present or to allocate the correct and sufficient equipment. £325 per candidate. Minimum 3.
Cross-selling (Professional Development Course).
This is an absolutely necessary for your engineers to understand what is required of them. It teaches them observational skills, how to talk to your customers and how to promote your other services. Engineers are generally working with their heads down and not noticing what is around them. £325 per candidate. Minimum 3.
Fire Safety Signage.
This is overlooked in the industry and I’ve found it to be a real problem. Obviously from a safety viewpoint and compliance but also in terms of revenue lost. £165 per candidate. Minimum 3.
For the courses, discounts are available for 5 candidates or more.
On-site mentoring days
Ideally 2 days. This enables me to highlight bad habits that have set in and any gaps in understanding from training. It also means I can individually connect with your engineer to understand how they tick, what they need and if they’re happy with their work. £450 per candidate per day.
Facilities
If you don’t have the facilities or have fewer engineers, I have a training room at my home in the West Midlands.
How much are you losing by putting this off?
It’s easy to put off training as something not so high on the priorities list , I know you are interested and want your engineers to be working to their full potential but it can become something you’ll do later.
Later means a lot of lost income. It also means non-compliance.
Investment in training means that every job an engineer does moving forward creates organic growth for you and provides the service that your customers are paying for.
You’re losing out if you don’t make time. Taking your engineers off the road can be a difficult thing to do but not doing it means money lost.
Yes, but …
(Click on the questions, you don’t want to miss this!)
We’ve already had our engineers trained.
If you have the proof that your customers premises are compliant and the recommendations and quotations for other services are coming through then everyone is doing their job properly. The auditing process and sales figures will demonstrate if this is true.
Our customer’s premises are already compliant!
You may be fortunate where all your sites are compliant with everything that is needed, therefore no capacity for further recommendations. Please don’t be sure about this without checking it out. It’s not something I come across often. If there is doubt, sample retrospective auditing can give a full insight into the way things are. If you don’t have time to do this, I can do it for you
Won’t we lose customers if we start changing things that should have been done already?
If you’re suddenly recommending equipment they haven’t been told about before, this can be a worry that they just go elsewhere. Part of my engineer’s training is how to deal with this situation in a way that reassures your customers and keeps their loyalty.
Customers really like the fact that engineers looking after them have received advanced training, a unique USP for you as a business.
What people are saying:
“You get what you pay for! You pay peanuts and you get monkeys!
I am sure most fire companies out there want to give their clients the best service possible and be able to rest at night knowing that their clients are compliant and suitably protected. I have met Stephen James many times over the years and would have no hesitation recommending him as an honest and very competent engineer and trainer!”
“There truly is nobody better to learn from. Stephen is a fantastic fountain of knowledge when it comes to all things extinguishers!”