Jul 2014 Have you pruned your trees lately?
No I am not speaking literally, I am speaking metaphorically.
Let me explain..
Have you been quoting projects recently that you shouldn’t be? Have you been wasting time on quotes that will not produce much profit.
The same goes for maintenance, are you quoting jobs that will be a waste of time because they won’t make much money and the client causes you too much stress.
Quoting jobs that you shouldn’t, waste a lot of your time or your estimators time and prevent you from quoting better jobs. And they are demoralising!
So start pruning the tree, in other words don’t quote jobs that don’t benefit your business.
What about the guys that work for you? Do they all work productively and have the right attitude for your business or are one or two dragging their feet and creating a negative environment. If you have one employee that is a so called ‘bad apple’, isn’t it time to prune the tree or move them on. What I have found it that employees usually don’t change their attitude and productivity long term. I know you may need that person at the moment because you are short staffed but think about how this employee is negatively impacting your business and your clients.
I have worked with over 220 businesses and found that every client could prune some aspect of their business like – an ineffective employee, clients that cost them money, jobs they shouldn’t quote, bookkeepers, subbies, suppliers, insurance brokers, accountants that don’t have their best interests at heart. Perhaps an awkward system could be changed so your quoting or project management runs smoother.
Have a look at your business and prune it so you are ready for a much better 6 months.