11 minute read
How to Hire Co-Workers
Think of the hiring process as a sales presentation — putting your best foot forward will net results.
BY RON SMITH
Recruiting people is much different than hiring people. Recruiting is the practice of getting people interested in working for your company. Hiring is the practice of convincing people that your company is the one they should choose as their place of employment.
In fact, hiring is only the second of six elements that must be addressed in properly staffing a company. The six are (in this order): recruiting, hiring, orientation, training, motivation and retention.
It’s time to put to rest the phrase, “You just cannot find or hire good people anymore.” That is absolutely wrong and you must start your recruiting and hiring practices by refusing to accept that notion.
I’ve owned and managed four different HVACR contracting companies and have consulted and been associated with hundreds of others. I know better. The reason many companies have problems hiring and retaining competent co-workers is simply because the companies have not created a pleasant workplace environment.
Experienced and skilled service technicians, installers and other co-workers are in high demand and can go work most any place they desire. To hire them, you must be an employer of choice.
Many good things that happen in business are a result of sales. That includes hiring. Think of hiring someone as presenting convincing reasons why they should work in your company rather than another company. Sounds like an effective sales presentation to me!
Think for a moment of a replacement-equipment sales presentation. We
all learned in sales training that we should follow some sort of format and structure along with having a presentation manual and other sales tools. We have to be well organized in our sales presentation, yet flexible enough to respond to different and changing conditions without losing our flow and continuity. If we are properly prepared and do this well, we may leave someone’s home with a $9,000 sale.
If it makes sense to go to a prospective customer’s home well prepared to make a replacement-equipment presentation resulting in a sale, doesn’t it make sense to sit down with a prospective co-worker and be equally well prepared to make a presentation?
Successfully hiring an experienced, skilled co-worker is worth much more than a $9,000 sale, yet most company owners and leaders do not have a format or structure they follow when trying to hire someone. They basically “wing it.”
HIRING STRUCTURE
Spend some time developing a hiring structure. It will not take long and will result in you being more successful in your hiring practice and save you countless time in the future.
First, make a list of all of the items you should present and discuss in your new co-worker candidate interview session. The following are some of the items I recommend: • Wage plan; • Training calendar; • Commission Program — Reward your co-workers with compensation for participating in the sales process by making sales or developing sales leads; • Personnel policy; • Co-worker career path opportunities; • Co-worker benefit package; • Testimonials from customers; • Examples of the forms and documents you use; • Flat-rate service manual — If you are talking to a service-technician candidate.
Gather each of these various items and have them filed and ready for when you need them.
Second, be prepared to take the candidate on a tour of your facility. Show them where they would be working and introduce them to a few of the co-workers they would be interacting with if they join the company.
On the tour, be sure they see your training room, your inventory of material and parts, and what the company vehicles look like and how they are stocked and maintained.
Remember throughout this entire process that it’s not just the co-worker candidate that must impress you, just as importantly you must impress them. They should have your complete attention.
Work on your co-worker sales presentation — it’s the most important tool you’ll have to win the battle of attracting good co-workers.
When considering hiring a co-worker, I recommend a series of three meetings: the get-acquainted meeting, the interview meeting and the mutual-hiring-decision meeting. This process takes less time than you may think and helps guard against a high turnover rate.
Often, hiring decisions are made too quickly. Fast hiring practices sometimes result in firing decisions. Being diligent, cautious and thorough in determining who the people are that are selected to work in your business is very important.
This interview process increases the possibility of staffing your company with high performers — co-workers who are competent at their work and have a desire to be on a winning team. High-performing co-workers result in high-performing companies. Mediocre co-workers result in mediocre companies.
GET-ACQUAINTED MEETING
This is not an interview session. Unlike some interview sessions, a get-acquainted meeting should not create any tension with the co-worker candidate. This is a short meeting, usually about an hour or a little longer. The purpose of this first meeting is simply to determine if there is mutual interest in going forward with the process.
It is even more non-threatening if you establish a neutral site for the session. Meet candidates at a restaurant and the very first thing you should say is that this is not an interview and there is no reason to be uncomfortable. There is another reason for a neutral site — the co-worker candidate may be employed with another local company and prefers not be seen in your offices.
At this meeting, do not ask for an application or resume, it isn’t time for that yet. The objective is only to get to know one another and for the candidate to learn your company’s philosophies in how you conduct your business.
If the session results in mutual interest, you and the candidate need to establish the date and time for the next meeting. Schedule the next meeting as soon as possible. If you’re interested in the candidate, do not take an unnecessary chance of losing the candidate’s interest.
Having a get-acquainted meeting will make you different from other contractors in the area and will impress the candidate.
INTERVIEW MEETING
Assuming the get-acquainted meeting results in mutual interest, the interview meeting is when you convince the coworker candidate to come to work for your company.
Remember, experienced and skilled co-workers can work at most any company they wish. Your objective in this meeting is to carefully make an effective “sales” presentation on why they should choose your company.
During this meeting, the candidate needs to fill out an employment application, take a technical test if the candidate is interviewing for an installer or service technician position, and complete a behavioral characteristic profile survey form.
You must obtain permission from the candidate for your company to request a vehicle driving report and a complete background report including any criminal activity, credit worthiness and prior employment verification. A quick Internet search on “employee background reports” will call up lists of companies that provide the service. Additionally, there are several providers for behavioral characteristic reports.
Finally, if the candidate does not want you to contact a present employer, you need to agree.
If there is still mutual interest when this meeting concludes, you need to set a date and time for the last of the three meetings — the mutual-hiring-decision meeting. Schedule the meeting at the earliest date that allows time to obtain and review the requested reports along with any other helpful information.
MUTUAL-HIRING-DECISION MEETING
Let’s assume you’re hoping to hire a high-performing service technician — the type of candidate that’s extremely competent and has a great attitude. This is the “Michael Jordan of service technicians.”
All five reports you gathered: the application, technical test, driving record,
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background report and behavioral characteristic profile have checked out perfectly. This person could go to work in most any company and start tomorrow.
It is clear after the two previous meetings this candidate does not need to convince you he can do the job — you need to convince him that your company is where he should be employed.
You can expect to be asked early in this meeting “What does this job pay?” If you answer “$28 per hour,” you have probably already lost the candidate’s attention because the candidate may already be making $28 per hour or even more.
So how do you address this question? I recommend this answer: “However much you wish to make.” This may prompt another question, “What do you mean by that answer?”
You need to explain that your company’s wages and benefits are equal to or exceed other HVACR companies in the area. But in addition to the hourly wage, coworkers can earn significant spiffs by selling service agreements and accessory items as well as turning in replacement equipment sales leads. And they can even get paid spiffs for co-workers they introduce to the company that are interviewed and hired.
By further explaining how additional money can be earned, you actually allow the co-worker candidate to build his or her own projected total compensation. Continue the exercise with a hypothetical scenario between the two of you:
You say: Let’s imagine you run an average of six service calls a day. I’ve already explained our service-agreement program along with the pricing, the high-quality precision tune-ups we provide, the customers’ benefits, the attractive document we use and how, with our service flat-rate manuals we can clearly show the customer that we provide a 15 percent discount on the repair that you just completed should the customer invest in a service agreement.
Now ask: Out of the average of your six daily service calls, how many of those customers do you believe would invest in a service agreement? (My experience has been that they will normally answer three or four.)
Now ask: Of those six average daily service calls, how many customers do you believe would allow you to arrange for a comfort consultant to come to their home and make a presentation on a new replacement equipment system — regardless of whether or not the customer decides to invest in the system?
Their response to this question is normally one or two. Ask the same question about them getting a sale on your system-enhancement products (system enhancements is my term for what is commonly called accessories).
Assuming you have a variety of these products available, as you should, the normal response to this question is that they would sell one or two a day from the six opportunities.
Here is how I personally sum it all up: Our company’s service agreements are available for one, two or three years. Considering all first-time service-agreement customers, the average agreement is 1.5 years.
Many customers in this area have two or more systems in their homes. Let’s assume all of your new service agreement customers have an average of 1.5 systems. We pay $10 per system and $10 per year. You projected three or four sales. Using the lower number of three sales multiplied by 1.5 years each multiplied by an average of 1.5 systems each you would earn an average of $67.50 per day in serviceagreement sales.
For replacement equipment presentations, we pay $40. You estimated one or two customers per day would allow a comfort consultant to come to their home.
Using the lower number of one, you would earn $40 per day. You also estimated that you would sell one or two system-enhancement products per day. Using the lower number of one sale multiplied by the average spiff amount of $30, you would earn another $30 a day.
Add it up: Using your projections, actually the lower number of your projections, you would earn through spiffs an average of $137.50 a day. I’m being careful and cutting it in half — meaning a more realistic average answer of $68 per day, or $8.50 per hour. On top of your spiff earnings, whatever they are, you will earn wages of $28 per hour.
This is the time for you to be silent. The technician candidate will do the addition and realize he has the potential to earn $36.50 per hour. It is very important that you do not create unrealistic expectations. Keep in mind that they will probably be optimistic in their responses. It’s most often appropriate to reduce the expectations as I did in this example. u
Ron Smith is a well-known authority in the HVACR business with more than 50 years of experience as a contractor, franchisor, consolidator, and consultant. He is the author of HVAC Spells Wealth, More and New HVAC Spells Wealth and HVAC Light Commercial Service Agreements. Contact Ron at 615-791-8474 or visit ronsmithhvac.com.
