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 Ten
Secrets Of Successful Technicians - Part II
Answer: Alaska in the late spring; New Mexico in the winter;
southern Portugal almost any time of the year.
Question: Where do you like to vacation?
Sounds like a travel agent’s question doesn’t it? When you travel,
you will at some point worry about what to pack and how many bags
to take along on the trip. How much money should I take and should
I take my raincoat? Running a small business will be similar
because you are always challenged with decisions about how to
resolve the day–to–day problems that you will encounter. Becoming
a successful technician doesn’t require that you have a
stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside
information. What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for
making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding
that framework. Last month I introduced you to the first five
Secrets of Successful Technicians, and this month we will explore
the other five Secrets.
5. Lean on your Board of Directors when you are
struggling along that slippery path
We spoke about those family members and friends who truly want to
see you succeed in business. Now is the time to enlist those
individuals with whom you have authentic relationships when your
motivation begins to wane. You must also consider those
individuals that have seen you fail in your last venture because
these are the people that truly want to see you succeed since they
know how important it is to you. When you rely on a fellow
business owner, or the competition, you may not be getting the
best information available.
Think about it for a second or two; if you ask a fellow business
associate for help on a decision, do you really think he/she will
act in your best interests? Come on, they would like to move in on
your territory in a flash, and you would become another business
that bites the dust. If you must rely on the competition for
guidance, watch what they do and not what they say.
Emulating the competition is probably one of the best ways to
succeed in business. If it works for them, it might work for you
as well. John, who owns a small consulting firm in Connecticut,
sells toner and other supplies to his customers and offers them a
cheap hourly rate for maintaining their equipment. Toner,
developer and fuser agent will always be needed in the field, and
John thought if the customer was on contract for supplies, he
would provide his service at a lower rate than his other regular
customers. His normal rate was eighty-five dollars an hour for
labor with a one-hour travel time charge. With his contract
customers, his rate is sixty-five dollars an hour and no travel
time is charged. Did it work? You can bet your boopie it did. To
John, it was thinking outside the burger box, and sometimes we can
come up with an innovative idea but have no one to bounce it off.
That’s where the “board of directors” comes in handy to have.
6. Keep the challenge on yourself. Change things up
If you notice that things are staying the same for long periods of
time, it might be hard to remain enthusiastic in your business.
You must remain focused and motivated at all times. No matter how
you look at it, owning a business is an uphill challenge all the
time. One of the ways I challenged my world was to learn new
equipment and become proficient in doing so. Constant education in
improving your skills can make a solid difference in how you
perceive the business. So, when things remain the same for long
periods of time, it might be in your best interest to learn
something new. Call your customers and announce to them that you
will be giving free key operator courses to their employees. It’s
a great door opener because the customer will get the impression
that you are truly on his side and part of their team. Offer a
service that your competition doesn’t offer. If it only requires
labor, you may want to consider offering it free of charge to your
contract customers.
7. Never stop learning
In an effort to keep the fires in your business life, focus on
enjoying the process of getting to the great goal, rather than
looking at the finish line. It doesn’t matter if you are
specializing in one brand of copiers or you do them all. Staying
focused in what you do should include training on any new
equipment that comes into the field. Finding the right training is
not as difficult as you might think. Start off with your local
supplier and ask them if they do training on new equipment. If
they do not, get involved with training classes because they will
probably know of someone that does. If you can’t find a good
training center, e-mail me and I will try to point you in the
right direction. When I worked for a copier manufacturer, there
was always that training center in Washington that offered me the
option of staying sane in an insane world. Because there was
always some new machine coming out, it made the job desirable and
interesting. It was a much-welcomed challenge and something that
we all looked forward to.
Take an adult education course at your local community college.
Bookkeeping 101 is always a rewarding and needed course to take.
Besides, it will help you out when income tax has to be paid. Most
adult education courses cover just about anything you can imagine.
One area you may want to consider taking a course in is “Office
2009”, where you can learn the basics of this software. Or you may
want to take a course in improving your personality. Don’t laugh
at this because it could help you in your dealings with customers
and potential customers as well. All courses will challenge your
gray matter, and besides, you may get a charge out of the
experience.
Marketing in any business is essential, and yours is no exception.
Check with local schools, colleges and other learning institutes
to see if they have any courses in marketing that are being
offered at their adult education center. I suggest adult education
because it usually involves a stand-alone course, but the regular
colleges try to get you registered in a full-fledged college
degree.
8. Become a priority
This may sound a little selfish, but you have to put your needs
first. Keep in mind that you will be derailed if you sacrifice
yourself for others in order to please them. Peter, who runs a
small repair facility in East Brunswick (NJ), has a full time job
running his business. When he gets home, his priorities shift to
the needs of his family. Recently Pete was asked by one of his
business associates to teach an evening workshop at their local
civic center. The workshop was a challenge for Pete as well as
time consuming, and eventually he lost interest in the course.
Because he made a commitment to the civic center, he found it hard
to quit the project. His family and business started to suffer
from the added time and effort that he had to put into the course.
When I asked him why he took on this monumental responsibility, he
said he was trying to please one of his mentors, and by
volunteering he would be in a more visible position in the
community. That doesn’t make too much sense to me because his
plate was full at the time and he had a lot of responsibility.
Maybe he was trying to be politically correct, who knows. Whenever
someone puts their arm over your shoulder and whispers in your
ear, “Pete, would you do me a favor”, you should politely smile
and say you will think about it after the first of the month.
Never make rash decisions, but always plan things out with one (or
more) of your board of directors. After all that’s why they are
there.
9. Always remember the deeper meaning in life
You’re more likely to realize a goal when it has a true personal
significance to you. For example, you may have always feared the
new super sized Xerox System printer because it was too big and
too difficult to learn. I will tell you right now, if and when you
get the opportunity to learn that new fangled Xerox Printer, do
it. It’s almost like a fear of flying; until you overcome your
fears, you will always be grounded in self-pity. Take the
challenge and do it. What does that have to do with the deeper
meaning in life? Everything! Overcoming your fears is like getting
that flu shot in the arm. It will make you feel like a better
person in life. The bottom line is feeling better about yourself
and overcoming your fear of flying. And while we are on the
feeling better stage of life, get that new 35-foot twin engine
Bayliner boat you always wanted. You may get that Bronx cheer from
the board of directors and your wife, but you will always feel
like a million bucks afterwards. So, if one of your goals is
getting that new boat, then get it and enjoy it. There is nothing
like the feeling when you go fishing and you’re seated in the back
of your boat, sipping a brew and fishing with that new pole you
got at the state fair last year. I know, because I was there.
10. (Almost) Final note
Technology is ever changing; new tools and techniques are becoming
available at a rapid pace. It used to be that technology would
replace itself every decade or so. Today, a computer or its
software to run that computer can become obsolete in as little as
six to eighteen months. In business if you stay ahead of the
technology curve you will be far more successful than those that
do not. Even if your company can at least stay close to this
ever-changing curve and take advantage the new technology when it
is feasible to do so, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the
competition. The Internet is an incredible tool for research,
advertising, marketing and providing information to your customers
as well as any employees or contractors you have.
Electronic mail is a time saving entity and saves you a ton of
money when communicating with customers and employees. To me,
e-mail is more effective than getting caught in a voice message
that sometimes gets dumped or forgotten. E-mail communications
gets better attention and it’s almost immediate. It’s also a great
way to maintain a record of what you say without it getting lost,
misunderstood or even forgotten.
The Internet, e-mail, and blogs of all types are rapidly becoming
as common as the telephone number and the fax device. Don’t get
left behind while the world around you, and your competition,
takes full advantage of these tools and technologies.
I would like to hear from you if you have a comment or any
questions about this month’s article. Please contact me at:
VillagecopierNY@AOL.COM
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