Ever wonder whether or not you’re leading your plumbing company well? In this episode of Potty Talk, Richard and Laura share three leadership qualities necessary to run a successful plumbing business.
Subscribe
Apple | Stitcher | Castbox | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Resources
3 Golden Nuggets
- A Winning Attitude.
- Communicate Clear Expectations.
- Willingness to Engage
Sponsors
Plumbing companies are a dime-a-dozen, and Mrs. Jones has many plumbers to choose from. Be sure your branding and logo stand out from the crowd by using KickCharge Creative, the industry’s leading and most awarded branding and truck-wrap design agency. They’ve been helping residential service companies increase their revenue for over 20 years.
KickCharge Creative is offering a $500 rebate to all Potty Talk listeners! Check them out here and get noticed today.
Show Notes
A Winning Attitude
If you own a plumbing company, guess what? You’re a leader whether you feel like it or not. Plus, you’re either taking your business up to new levels, or you’re dragging it down. One thing all great leaders have in common is a winning attitude and a glass-half-full mentality. There’s no room for pessimistic Eeyores in the successful plumbing business world.
Another way to describe a winning attitude is an abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset. A leader with a winning attitude says things like, “We can do this,” “We’ve got what it takes,” or even if things are looking bad, “We’ll figure it out.” They aren’t afraid to make mistakes, because they’ll just get up and try again.
Good leaders don’t live in their current circumstances, whether they’re good or bad. They live in their future success. This is not living in denial or living with their heads in the clouds; they’re aware of reality, but they don’t let those things completely drive their mentality. Life is hard, and there will always be wars and storms and diseases. But a winning attitude doesn’t focus on that.
Communicate Clear Expectations
Read any book on leadership, and you’ll find a chapter on communicating expectations. But we go one further: not only does a good leader within a business communicate clear expectations, but he or she is explicit about how those expectations lead to the success of the business.
One way to do this: communicate a few non-negotiables. Create systems for the secondary things, but be clear about the things which must be done. For example, Richard’s non-negotiables were: provide the customer with options, take thorough notes on each job, and clean and stock the trucks.
Be sure your techs know your expectations—but keep your non-negotiables to a reasonable number. If everything is a non-negotiable, your company becomes an overwhelming, micro-managed place to work. Pick your battles. Having too many non-negotiables is just as bad as having none.
Willingness to Engage
If you’re a history buff like Richard, you may have heard of General George McClellan, who briefly served as general of the Union Army during the American Civil War. His time as Commanding General was brief because, although he could get his men looking good on parade, he wouldn’t get them engaged where it counted: on the battlefield. He kept waiting for the right time and the right conditions.
Abraham Lincoln eventually fired McClellan and brought in Ulysses S. Grant instead. Grant didn’t have the academic success McClellan had, but he was willing to engage when it mattered.
We see this often, even with our clients. The companies that take off and become really successful are the ones who are willing to engage. So what does that look like in the plumbing world?
Have an abundance mindset and be willing to take risks. Hire the new tech before you think you can. Get another truck before you have someone to drive it. Be willing to book every call for today, and to triage those calls. Do these things even if you’re afraid and not sure if it’ll work out because the best leaders are the ones who are afraid but engage anyway.
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!
