Building a great independent contracting company in the industries of HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical requires the provision of service excellence. But a great service company must achieve service excellence by also focusing on the foundational aspects of sales, leads, and retention. The focus on retention within a company can sometimes be unintentional placed “on the back burner” because it is not always an immediate revenue booster. However, retention of clients and employees is a vital aspect to the health and growth of an independent contracting company.
Employee retention is an important company skill that contributes to the ultimate stability of an independent contracting company. If a company is constantly cycling through employees then they are losing time, investment, and effort put into training technicians and customer service representatives. Continually starting at “square one” with a fresh batch of employees can be tiring and disheartening to a company that needs trained and seasoned technicians and CSRs. At the core, retention of valuable employees can be attributed to:
–Need- Independent contractors must remember that all of their employees became part of the company team because of a need. Before anyone is hired, there must be a need on the employee’s end and the employers’ end. But the longer an employee is with the company, the needs of both parties will transform; thus it is vital that there are accessible lines of communication. It is important that a company’s team understands the business’ needs as well as the company management understands the needs of their team members so effective transitions and new goals can be made accordingly.
–Message- Employees see a business from all angles and they will immediately be able to see when a company’s message and values are compromised. Following through with a company’s message in regards to employees is two fold. First, a company must follow through with the promises and message that they gave to their employee when they were hired and the messages that they continue to give them throughout employment. This builds rapport on a personal level with employees and this will help retain the best team members for the company. Secondly, it is important that employees see that the company also follows through with the message that they give their clients. When an employee sees that the business truly cares about their service excellence, an employee will find pride and value in working with an honest and first-rate company. When both aspects of a company’s messages are carried out, it creates an atmosphere where employee loyalty combines with company pride and results in a stable work environment for employees and management. When an employee is truly sold on the company’s message and values, they will be a more effective team member and be more successful with customer interaction, sales, leads, and service.
–Relationship- Retention of great employees also depends on the relationship they feel they have with the company, team, and management. An employee wants to feel that they are of value to their service company both as a beneficial employee and as a unique person. Developing this type of relationship requires open lines of communication and some one-on-one conversations. Ultimately, an employee wants to feel that they are an important part of the service team. When they feel confident in their service skills and they see that the company appreciates their contributions, they will be encouraged to work hard for a company that believes in them and that they believe in.
Retaining great employees is an important aspect of building a great service company. Retention also stems from effective and continual recruiting of potential employees. When your company focuses on retaining employees it is important to remember that needs must be mutual and efficiently communicated, following through with your company message builds rapport, and the development of positive relationships results in employee loyalty. If your company wants to revisit some of the important aspects of employee retention and recruiting, get in touch with Service Excellence Training and let us aid in the process. Thank you for following our weekly posts. Here at Service Excellence Training, we turn learning into earning!
-Resource curated by Whitney Stewart of Service Excellence Training.
