Just 10 minutes a day can make a difference in your business performance. Over the next month, if you will spend 10 minutes a day working on your business, you will reap the rewards throughout the next year and beyond. Here are 31 tasks that take ten minutes or less. You can also download the list below.
1. Thank a Technician.
Pick one of your techs and thank him for the work he’s done this summer. Find something specific to sincerely complement him on.
2. Call an Old Customer.
Call an installation customer and check to see how well the system held up over the summer. If there’s a problem, fix it. If everything is great, thank her for her business.
3. Post a Facebook Coupon.
Create a special offer for your company, make it into a square coupon, save it as a jpeg, and post it on Facebook as a photo.
4. Write Down a Personal Goal.
Make it a big goal. Write it down. Put it somewhere you will see it from time to time. Let your subconscious go to work on it.
5. Join a Service Club.
Join a Rotary Club (or Lion’s, or Kiwanis, or Optimist, or Civitan). You eat lunch anyway so you might as well eat lunch with community centers of influence.
6. Listen to a Profiles in Prosperity Podcast.
Go to www.ProfilesInProsperity.com and subscribe. Each podcast is an interview with a leading contractor or industry consultant. Listen in your truck. It’s free.
7. Add a Coupon to Your Business Card.
If your business card lacks a coupon, add one on the back. If it has one, consider updating it.
8. Give Business Cards to Small Businesses You Patronize.
Next time you stop by a convenience store, restaurant, dry cleaners, or other local business, hand the person you interact with a business card. Thank the person and say, “Keep this so you can save some money the next time you need air conditioning work.”
9. Update a Company Marketing Piece.
Marketing is like bread. It gets stale and moldy over time. Pick one piece of your marketing collateral and refresh it.
10. Download Something From https://www.contractingbusiness.com/downloads.
For years Contracting Business Magazine has been adding free monthly downloads of contractor business tools from the Service Roundtable. Click the link and download one for your business.
11. Collect and Read “Junk Mail” for Marketing Ideas.
Some junk mail is junk. Some reflects expensive marketing research into direct marketing effectiveness. Do not throw it away without looking at it for marketing ideas. Keep the pieces you like in a “swipe file.”
12. Network on Social Media.
Social media is not a waste of time, it is an opportunity to engage in networking with people in your community without the hassle of actually going somewhere.
13. Join a Buying Group.
If you are not using a buying group, you are paying too much.
14. Ask Someone in the Office to “Tell You Something Good.”
Instead of saying, “How’s it going,” say, “Tell me something good.” Help your team focus on the good things in their lives and watch attitudes improve.
15. Spend 10 Minutes Making Connections on Linked In.
Linked In is business focused. Make connections with commercial prospects.
16. Read a Business Blog.
Find a business blog unrelated to HVAC. Read John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing blog, Dave Ramsey’s Entreleadership blog, or another blog to stimulate the way you think about your business.
17. Read a Column in Contracting Business.
As soon as you get your copy of Contracting Business, highlight one or more columns to read. Open the magazine to one of the columns you want to read and leave it on your desk at the end of the day. Read it first thing in the morning.
18. Register for the Service World Expo.
The Service World Expo is the largest and best training event in the industry. Do not miss it. Register at www.SWEShow.com.
19. Run a Spiff.
Pick an accessory, system enhancement, or service you would like to promote. Run a special on it and spiff your technicians when they present it to customers who buy.
20. Run an Internet Search on Your Major Competitors.
What are your competitors doing that you are not? What are they saying about themselves and the industry? Is there something you can learn or something that you are missing?
21. Put Refrigerator Magnets on the Back of Your Trucks.
Put magnets on the back of trucks so that people will steal them.
22. Create a Pinterest Account.
If you do not have a Pinterest account, create one. Your customers have one. Start pinning information about the local community, local schools, and your company. If you are worried about the loss of your man-card, create a board dedicated to beer, BBQ, bullets, and bikes (i.e., Harleys).
23. Update Your Online Listings
When was the last time you checked your online listings for accuracy? Is your Local Google listing up-to-date? Can you add to it?
24. Join a Local Trade Association.
Local trade associations are supported by the best contractors in the market. They are also the ones most willing to share their knowledge with other contractors. These are people you want to associate with.
25. Update Your Prices.
Are you charging enough, given your costs and overhead? Probably not. Fix it.
26. Create a Referral Card.
Referral cards give discounts to prospects who are referred to you by customers, friends, organization patrons, etc. Simply write the name of the person you are handing the cards to (i.e., the customer who is receiving the cards to pass out). When a referral card is turned in to the company, the prospect gets a discount and the customer whose name is on the card gets a gift card. Alternatively, it could be the name of a charity on the card. When it’s a charity, you make a cash contribution to the charity instead of a gift card.
27. Identify Your KPIs.
Do you know your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? Are they the right ones? Add one. Track it over time for usefulness. Keep the KPIs that help. Discard the ones that do not.
28. Join a Success Group.
The contractors who grow the fastest and who make the most money are in success groups or business alliances. While some require significant investments, others are as little as $50 per month. Find the one that is right for you.
29. Record a Selfie Consumer Tip.
Get your phone and record a consumer tip or commentary. Explain why windows fog up. Talk about the government’s new 82-degree thermostat setpoint recommendation. Talk about anything you are passionate about it and post it to social media, on your website, etc.
30. Hang Door Hangers.
Stop in a promising neighborhood and hang door hangers up and down a street. Make sure your technicians know you hang door hangers just like you expect them to.
31. Eat BBQ.
It may not help your business grow, but it will make you happy. Everyone should eat BBQ from time to time.
The entry point business alliance is the Service Roundtable. Join for $50 per month, receive unlimited downloads for the organization’s library of HVAC content, and automatically enroll in Roundtable Rewards, contracting’s largest buying group. Learn more at www.ServiceRoundtable.com.