You’ve hired a plumber for your plumbing business. Great! Now what? Richard talks about training your new plumber for success in this Potty Talk LIVE episode.
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3 Golden Nuggets
- Training ain’t about plumbing. Train your plumbers on your systems and your expectations.
- Have a training process. It makes your plumbers feel secure and allows you to scale your business.
- Initial training is no longer than a week. Get your plumbing techs out there, making money. Over time, they will learn more and build their confidence.
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Show Notes
Training Plumbers and Getting Them In The Truck
(16:50) When a new plumber starts with your company on Monday, he should be in the truck, on his own, Friday after lunch. A lot of plumbing business owners make the mistake of setting a training time of 30 days or even 90 days. They’ll train forever instead of getting the guys in the truck and making money.
Or there’s no training at all, which is not good either.
(18:20) As I always say, it ain’t about plumbing. And training your plumbers ain’t about plumbing. I can’t emphasize that enough. Your new hire training should be simple and direct. It should focus on your systems and your expectations.
Don’t use this time to train on how to be a great plumber. It’s a huge mistake. You should be hiring guys that already know plumbing. Over-training on plumbing skills is not making money for your business.
(20:50) You should train on the processes and procedures of your business, your expectations and systems, and your culture.
Create a Training Process
“Process creates success.”
(20:58) Having a training process in place gives your new plumbing tech a sense of security. The number one thing that plumbers are looking for is security: money, PTO, insurance, things like that. Good processes also give them security.
If a new hire is waiting for you to decide what to train on today, he has a sense that you’re winging it; that YOU don’t know what to do. That makes them feel uncomfortable.
Also, a training process makes your business SCALABLE which is what your business should be about. Because if you’re not busy growing, you’re busy dying. Having a process in place means that it doesn’t have to rely on you. Anyone can do the training. It could be your CSR because, again, your training process has nothing to do with plumbing.
(24:24) Training should include:
- The technology you use.
Hopefully you’re using a tool like Service Titan. Show them how to use it.
- Arriving at a customer’s house.
Walk through the process of what to do and say when they arrive at the customer’s house. Make sure they know your expectations.
- Your expectations.
Such as being responsible, making decisions, taking action, and serving Mrs. Jones.
- Your Culture: Taking care of Mrs. Jones.
You want to build a company culture around taking care of Mrs. Jones. Centered everything in your training around this. It may be a new concept to a lot of technicians.
Ongoing Plumbing Training
(28:01) Take them through a simple training, then set them free. By Friday they should be in the truck on a solo run. You want that truck, that asset, on the road and making money.
And put them in a nice truck. Don’t say, “Well they gotta earn the truck.” you don’t want them quitting their first week because you’ve given them the old beater. Put them in a nice truck with the expectation they are going to get out there and take care of Mrs. Jones.
Will they be perfect? Absolutely not. You can’t train for every possible scenario. There will be teachable moments as you go along.
(30:50) Have ongoing training. Bring in vendors. Have tankless training. Or talk about the new water system. ServiceTitan has great training videos. During a weekly meeting you can have everybody watch a short training video and then do some role-playing with them.
That’s how you can train on plumbing over time and show the guys you’re investing in them.
Plumber Training Tips From The Million Dollar Plumber
- Keep it simple.
- Have a process.
- Train on your systems, expectations, and culture.
- And get them out there.
Richard’s Call to Action.
If you want to learn more about numbers that matter and how to best run your plumbing business, why not schedule a free 30-min strategy call with us? Let’s talk about your goals and where you want to be this time next year, and we’ll help you create a path to make that happen. Schedule your free strategy call here today!
