Pet Peeve – Swinging for the Fences

This week, Chris and Chris talk about a few pet peeves. They’re actually the same – both Chris and Chris really have a problem when companies, techs, or salespeople “swing for the fences” or “hunt whales” when it comes to opportunities.

There are lots of companies out there that do a great job with celebrating wins. But what wins are the best at the company? What have you or your company defined as the best win? Do you celebrate memberships and good repair tickets as much as replacement leads? Are you sure? You might be thinking that it’s good to celebrate the replacements more. And you’re not wrong if you do, but you’re not exactly right.

If we celebrate replacement leads as the best wins, then we’ll get more of them proportionally than we do the other types of wins – memberships and good repair tickets. But we’ll get more leads at the cost of those things. Baseball gives us a great analogy. Consider the home run. Everyone loves it. It is a guaranteed score of at least one run but could be up to four.

There are great home run hitters in baseball. But there are also great singles and doubles hitters. For the home run hitters, their job is to do just that…hit home runs. But what about the single and double hitters? What if you tell them to go start hitting home runs? Do you think they can do it right away? What will happen if you tell them to start swinging for the fences? I think you know. They’ll start swinging at pitches they can’t hit. They’ll strike out more. They’ll produce less than they were before. They might get a few more home runs, but at what cost?

You may not specifically tell your team to swing for the fences and hit more home runs, but your actions and your focus might. Be sure you are celebrating all wins equally, so the message is sent that all are good. Show your single and double hitters that they are just as valuable by celebrating their type of wins.

The trend over the last 20 years or more has been to grow your company by replacement. Not just HVAC but also plumbing and electrical. The trend is to get to a business mix of 80-85% replacement and 15-20% maintenance/service. That’s good advice as long as your 15-20% is made up of the right things. You still need good repair tickets on those that don’t replace. You still need membership sales to build future business.

Be sure you are celebrating your wins equally. Track your numbers on a team scoreboard. Make sure to praise your wins in public. Send the message that your company is going to win with singles, doubles, and home runs.

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