How a salesman fixes a good enough attitude with an installer.
I personally feel that with the market as it is today, we should be doing the best work we can. Client’s are harder to close and they demand not only a good price but they expect perfect work.
So when a salesman is out there selling he relies on a lot of things to go right. But the one thing he should not need to worry about is the installation of the job. We have full time employees because we feel we can get a better installation job and they take pride in there work.
But at times you will find some installers slack off when it comes to quality. Yes, everyone can have a bad day but there is no excuse that our client needs to pay the price for shoddy workmanship.
When you work with over 80 installers and you see there work everyday, you kind of get a feel for the kind of work you expect out of each of them everyday.
So when I recently talked to one of my client’s about there job and how happy they were with the completion of the job and for me to stop by and pick up my final check. Now we have a quality control person that inspects every job we complete.
Since I was going to pick up the check I told the QC person that I would look over the job and give it a once over. I have over 25 years in our type of work so I know a little about QC.
Yes the client was very happy with our company and handed me the check as soon as I walked into his office. But when I looked at the job I was not happy at all. This was not our type of quality of work and was not acceptable to me.
The sad part about this job was you could tell that the installer did not measure the material before he started the job. I had ordered 4 pieces of valance with 2 different sizes and needless to say he installed the wrong sizes on the wrong sides.
Because of this he had to patch in small pieces on each end of the carport and it looked terrible. I could not believe my client loved the job. But for me I what a 100% satisfaction installation.
I called the installer and his attitude was that it was good enough. Well good enough was not for me. I decided because the installer has been with us for awhile to go ahead and have the QC person go look at the job after all.
He agreed with me that the installer was rushed and he did not check the material first. So we ordered 2 new pieces of valance and had the installer on his time replace the valance.
Later in the week I ran into the installer and sat him down to explain that in today’s market good enough is unacceptable. I explained that not only did he let our client down and our company but what happens when I use this client for a referral and my new client stops and looks at the job and he is not impressed with the workmanship.
We all lose! So do not let your workers or subcontractors settle for good enough. Make them all accountable for there work because you are the company owner and you are the one that pays the bills.
Your clients expect the best from you and you need the referrals. Remember, right now we have an employers market for help. So do not be afraid to replace good enough workers.
Happy Selling
Glen
Comments on this entry are closed.