Wage and Labour demands in the B&C Industry

April 13, 2018April 2, 2019 Cate SchafingCRM-Map BlogLeave a Comment

The latest wage Rider Levett Bucknall’s Oceania Report – RLB

has found that “All sectors of the building and construction industry are reporting increased demands for wage increases of up to 5 per cent per annum,” the report said. These wage increase are being passed on to the consumer by way of steeper construction costs.

“Further, the Sydney market is now experiencing a labour shortage in some fields. These include reinforcement fixers, form workers, bricklayers, carpenter/joiner and fire protection trades. These trades are reporting full order books and unable to accept new opportunities.”

Melbourne has seen the residential boom slowing down and contractors have found wages less of a burden, the report said.

“On detached housing sites, labour is inching up slightly in the ‘hard’ trades – bricklayers and carpenters,” it said. “Within the large commercial and residential projects, even though labour rates are coming under ever more pressure due to constant EBA rate increases, the volume of overtime being worked is diminishing, causing a net constant pricing of labour within the project.”

The Oceania report also stated that “Head contractors are asking subcontractors to increase labour rather than approve overtime.” This is a further effort to try and reduce labour costs.

From all accounts it appears that Brisbane has likely peaked and construction will slow. This is reflected in the skew of commercial projects completing in 2016/17. This has boosted CBD and fringe office vacancy rates.

The report forecasts “Construction cost increases appear to have peaked and we expect some softening of construction costs during 2017/18, however “there is still a large pipeline of work under construction”. The report expects this will be a gradual process with structural trades being affected first.

All in all wages and labour costs on building projects continues to challenge B&C companies ever seeking to be competitive and profitable and reputable.

Henry Schafing: henry@crm-map.com

MYOB – 3 Ways to Increase Profits

January 12, 2016April 3, 2019 Cate SchafingBusiness Management, CRM-Map Blog, Media ReleasesLeave a Comment

Here are 3 simple methods to actually increase your profits.

Option 1 – Improve your Sales technique.

Sales is a topic that I could spend hours talking about. As a novice I thought sales was a dirty word, but once you have been in business a long time you will see this differently. For those who stay in business, the reason they do, is that they have good sales people. So what is a good sales person?

A good Salesperson can:

say No to a wrong/bad sale.
select the right fit/product for the client
endear confidence and a desire to repeat purchase
sell the product not just the price

These dot points mean that as a business you need to have quality, well educated, empathetic, intelligent sales people. It does not matter what the product is. What matters is the customers experience.

With this in mind, sales people need to be able to offer the right product, at the right price in a timely and professional manner. This involves a lot of skills. The application of these skills involves Sales Techniques.

The key to increased profits really can lie in getting the right technique. I met building improvement owner, and the sales technique that they employed included some very strict timing and steps. He found that the combination of timing and steps increased his sales and margins significantly.

So the key is to find the Sales Technique that matches your company and your product.

My experience shows that for each customer you need to find what matters to them, so listening is vital. A sales person that listens is over halfway home. Know if the sale is a need or a want. Know what is going to trigger your customer.

Once you know what matters, you re-enforce this with your sales script / demonstration. However with that said, Tools are vital. Ways to show off the product – Samples, Videos. Ways to confirm that the client can be confident in you – e.g. referrals. Local referrals are always best, and it is a reason that products like CRM-Map are so popular.

Finally, the sales person must close the sale. Closing is interesting. Some sales people can demonstrate, but they just can’t close – they are actually demonstrators, not sales people. Good salespeople can close a sale. There are many techniques for this, and once again this must match your company and product.

Some closing Techniques include:

Assumptive Sale : e.g. Do you want this in Red or Blue (get the client to make positive statements of ownership, and the sale is a natural)

Reason to decide today: Could be a discount, limited stock, limited stock availability etc.

3 Yes’s to close: It is physiologically suggested that if your client will agree with the sales person on 3 important points, then agreeing to purchase is a minor agreement.

Option 2. Repeat Sales to Existing Clients

The easiest and most profitable sale is a repeat sale. Very simply put, the client knows you, trusts you, your don’t have to find them, prove yourself, or establish a relationship. All of this has already been done.

So look after your existing clients.

Successful companies do this in a range of ways, e.g. Loyalty cards, personal service. Today, it was announced that Dick Smith Electrical has gone into voluntary receivership. Well I am not surprised. It is not to do with sales, but related to profits. They have never worked at repeat sales. They do not treasure their clients – you are just a number. Plus they are in an incredibly competitive market.

Repeat sales really do make a big difference in the bottom line.

This morning I had a personal experience. I have for 30 years purchased house paint from the same store. As a have a few properties, this is about $1000 per year minimum. So I keep going back, the staff know me, and after a few sales, they gave me a discount. I now know, that I don’t need to shop around that they will give me the best price. This morning however, a new staff member refused to discount the product I was purchasing – and the price difference was about 20{c36baba5c73b6c9a0b80d5e7ba0a8acbfd233dc9453b651cdb653391d31dba51}. I was not impressed. So I waited until a known staff member arrived and then all went well. However, I can state that this could have ruined a valuable relationship. So owners, don’t rest on your laurels. You need to have systems in place to care for these valuable clients even if staff change.

Option 3. Lower your costs

Lowering costs! Sounds easy, feels difficult. Well it is easier than you could believe.

I am the president of a large sporting association. With all the new laws brought in by the Fair Work Act, voluntary sporting associations have been really hit hard. So as the president, I was faced with 2 problems. Making sure that the association was running legally correct, and making sure that the association ran at a profit. The biggest problem was “But this is the way we have always done it”.

The only constant in life, is Change. Once that is accepted in a practical sense, then changing to be more profitable is possible.

So my next step was to review each and every account. I had the internal book keeper do this with me, and made sure that all rules were followed. We had to think outside of the square. This involved getting the association registered as a Work for the Dole option, plus creating a relationship with the local employment agencies, so that suitable volunteers could be located.

We also reviewed some of the products we had, so that we had products that clients wanted and were happy to pay for.

Technology can be a big cost saver if used well, but, poorly applied technology can also be a cost waster. The key is to know what technology is available, and what is the right decision? The difficulty is that no one has a crystal ball, and technology moves at a rapid rate. Here are my suggestions to using technology well in your company, so that you will save money.

Don’t get the latest greatest, unless necessary.

Buy the best value for now, but don’t expect technology to last longer than 2 years.

Get tools that will save you in staff time and give you the right information.

Get tools that will ensure your work is not temporary. Your data should be electronically saved and available to other sales people. Don’t just loose the data with either the sales person, or the electronic filing cabinet. Use a good database and store the data and make sure it is accessible as necessary.

Listen to wisdom in the field you are reviewing.

Consider alternative methods, e.g. Going Virtual, cloud based etc.

Use good Systems and Databases, e.g. MYOB, Xero, Salesforce, or Zoho as examples.

One of your responsibilities is to make sure that you give your staff the tools to do their job. Make sure these tools will work, and that the valuable data you gain is utilized and not lost.

Now improve your bottom Line.

I hope that these ideas will assist you to improve your bottom line. But if you are at least considering, maybe your next step is to communicate your needs and thoughts with an executive committee or mentors.

Mentors have many functions. They can make sure you see the facts, not just what you want to see. They can give you a kick or let you release when you need it. Mentors are great. If you don’t have one or some, then work on this. You can even pay for this type of service, with Executive Meetings.

A lot of mentors, are happy to Mentor, as it is often a 2 way streak. e.g. they get as much as they give. However, others are happy to just be there, as they have experience and want to share. But having a mentor is a good way to make sure you are on the right path.

Sales Manager Insights: Use Door to Door sales people the smart way

December 2, 2015April 16, 2018 Cate SchafingSales TipsLeave a Comment

How often as a Manager have you wished for a magic wand, you know that wand that would:

Gain new Customers
Increase Sales
Decrease employee problems
Decrease customers problems
Fix all the management demands
Decrease costs

Well I may not be your fairy godmother, but I hope that what I have to share here, will be equal to taking you to “Ollivander’s” from Harry Potters Stories, and allow you to find the magic you seek.

Information is the magic want for business solutions in the 21^st century. This has proven itself over and over again. It is why we must approve of our phone calls being recorded. It is why when we create websites and have google analytics. Every day, in every way, we are part of the big wheel in data collection. Now, this sounds really easy, but with Door to Door salespeople, collecting useful data that can be collected, and used easily, viably and cost effectively – is easier said than done.

No! It was easier said than done, but with the latest release of technology, the IS is now a WAS.

So now as an experienced Sales Manager, you want to know, what, how, cost and what’s the catch.

What is this new technology?

Google Maps. New? You are right, it is not new, it has been around for ages, available on every device you can think of. But what is new is that Google Maps has released some IT magic – known as an API – Active Page interface. OK, now I sound like a geek. So in English, Google allows products and tools to interface with it. You know this because you have a google map on your web site. True. But some companies have gone to a new level, and allow any of your sales people to use this technology to add, edit, photograph, keep documents etc. in Google Maps.

That is right. On a simple smart phone, your door to door collector or sales person, could record their meeting, take a photo, select a signature, get information – all on their phone, and it instantly is available to you in your office. You know where your sales people are, what sales they are doing, seeing and hearing their sales (if you wish).

By the assessment of sales demonstrations, you can see the problems and help your staff overcome them. You don’t have to be on the road, you can do this in your office. So enabling yourself to be fair more efficient.

It will not damage or compromise any of your current systems, as it is external to them, and you can control what data is entered and added, and how automatically you want this data to transfer. This is in your control.

An example of such a product is CRM-Map.com

Now you know the WHAT the next question is HOW.

Data can be collected by a range of methods. You could collect data by keying it in. You can collect data by requesting reports – e.g. Google analytics. You can collect data by ‘outsourcing’ this data entry and either purchasing the data, or having someone enter this for you. Finally you can collect data as part of a process.

In the context of working smarter, we will discuss the how in a couple of methods.

Method 1. Internal lead generation.

Current Lead generation if internal, would already be entered ‘somewhere’. If this somewhere, linked to CRM Map, then you have your leads , icons and coding already in Google Maps, so your sales staff can update this information.

If however you educate your sales people to work ‘smarter’ . Then as they go to and from appointments, they could collect other data that would lead to prospects. As Google Maps is so easy, this can be done by clicking a location on the phone, and applying a product of note, and a status. This could be competitors products, no products, etc.

Method 2. External Lead Generators

Either their systems, or the spreadsheets they send you can be imported into products like CRM Map so that your sales people can update and track their prospects. This also saves you data entry time, as this will integrate directly to your CRM under your own rules.

You can now see, that duplication of work can be minimized (if not removed), and that smarter sales people can actually assist in getting new prospects. So the obvious question would be:

Cost.

You are right, this sounds to be a very costly exercise and until this November, this would have been. However, with recent software releases, you can rent this technology purely on a low cost monthly basis. How low, well about $8 per month – average. Obviously the more users, the cheaper it gets, but it is still a very low cost charge, for what this can return to your company. Even the capture of one single qualified lead by your sales person a month, is cheap at $8 per month. Excluding the wasted time in double entry, lost data, non-recording of information – the list goes on. So the ROI, in my opinion renders this new technology quite cheap.

One major advantage with CRM Map, is that if a user has access to more than one application of CRM Map, you are not charged twice, only once – as the user is only registered once. This CRM Map refers to as crowd leverage costing.

What’s the catch?

Most great products have a catch, e.g. a locked in contract or a price rise after your hooked. Well some of the google API interface products do have catches and lock in contracts, as the host company is “locked” in with google for 12 months. However, CRM-Map, has allowed companies to leverage together and use this product without the locked in contract.

The biggest catch, is that you need to decide what data you wish to capture, how you wish to interface and how you wish to use this technology to work smarter, and gain new customers.

Why have you never heard of CRM Map?

CRM Map is the first of its kind and has only been released in November 2015. So technologically it is “hot” and new.

Think it might be better to wait and see?

My answer to this is that 15 years ago, I heard almost every main department store and supplier curse e-marketing companies for ruining the retail market. Yes, they changed it. However, every single still existing main company now offers e marketing. They have e stores, or they allow e ordering and deliveries etc. Those that have not moved to this, are now either out of business or well on the way to being out of business, especially if metropolitan located.

What e-marketing has done to the retail sector, Google maps API is now doing to the Door to Door sector. The question therefore is really how long you will wait to see. Remember a lot of companies tried to get into the E marketing too late. They are now either smaller, or gone. Timing is essential. But one reason not to wait, is that currently quite a few of these new products offer free trials. So you can try the product, learn, gear up, and then decide to implement or not. You are then make a wise choice, than just watching others going ahead and then deciding to join the market movement.

Getting New Customers, Increase Profits, Decrease Employees and Customers Problems.

Just like Magic!

If you had a magic wand as a Manager, what would you like it to do for your company?