Next stop to grow

[yellowsenska]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice , gaudiness in the following situation.
I run small plumbing and heating company and luckily the business is growing . I have two employees who work for full time and we have twice as much inquires as we had last year .
I've got to the stage where I can't any more work with the tools , answer the phone calls, do the quotes and deal with the costumers etc.
I have to turn down lot's of costumers because I could not take the work. I feel like I 'm losing control because I can't reply to emails and answer all the phone calls.
We have really great reputation and is very important to me to maintain that .
I would really like to grow but I do not know what my next step should be business wise. I have a really hard time finding another engineer and thinking about the prospect of hiring PA.

Possibly some of you faced situation like that and can give me some advice.

Many Thanks

 

[dragonsfire1981]

It sounds like you should find a way to "free yourself" from the admin and day to day gruntwork.

You probably need to think hard about identifying then replicating all your processes and then passing them on so someone you can devolve it to that they understand well enough to be fairly autonomous. perhaps sit down and develop a list of all your priorities, activities, then develop a training manual, and think about the exact qualities, skills the person needs to have to take it onboard.

I once met the CEO of Pimlico Plumbers, Charlie Mullins, at a networking event, and broadly speaking this was what he did. He replicated himself, values, ethos, trained people up, hired people to do the admin, finance etc. You may need to find a generalist assistant first.

 

[Dolphin-Design]

read the 'E-Myth' its message is similar to what the previous poster is saying

 

[businessfunding]

You need to take a good, hard look at your business model & how it works

Sorry to say, but 'trades' are frequently guilty of growing without strategy and getting into terrible trouble - this is the fundamental difference between doing a job and running a business

Employing an admin / accounts person might be some or all of the answer - you won't know until you are clear how you want your business to look.

Excess demand is a great opportunity to evaluate marketing - do you want to grow with that demand or do you want to control demand through pricing, credit control and workflow?

Do you want to be on the tools or running & overview a growing business?

You don't have to be fixing taps to be productive!

 

[elraymonds]

Hello,
Well i understand how hard it is to give attention everywhere. Then do one thing hire one secretary so he/she can manage you all your work...

managing work can be hard by your self and hiring someone could be costly. Better to outsource

 

[danieldd]

This is the time when some investment is needed. Consider buying tools, employing a person or two. I am a bit against outsourcing as your business becomes dependent. Think about people who are familiar with your business, or are close to you - you need people that will be willing to work for your good reputation.

Most of all - before doing anything better consult an economist to measure the growth of your business. This way you will have the data to make confident decisions about the future of your company. For example, if you expend XX profit over the course of the year, you can invest YY part of it.

 

[web-design-stories]

It looks like you are getting too busy with all the things.

It's worth to hire someone to give you a hand answering the calls and doing paperwork?
Part time person maybe? You will get more time to find another engineer.

Also at this stage I would recommend to think about your goals.
- Do you want to be a large company with lots of employees?
- Are you going to stay small ?
- Or do you want to completely remove yourself from the business and spend your time home while your business is still prospecting?

- Maybe growing your company big and selling it to somebody is an option?

Whatever you choose, think about it.
If you have more clients than you can handle, sometimes it's good to say "No" rather than letting them down. There's nothing worse than making promises you can't keep.

If you choose to grow even bigger, you will have to hire more people.

 

[RichardDave]

If you are really wiling to expand your business, I can suggest that you can take up the certification course provided by the The Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants(AASBC), they are excellent in their work. Their programs can actually help you to grow your business and to maintain the reputation of your company.

 

[Karllacey]

Simple solution, line up subbies. You can grow your business as normal and the subbies can take care of the work for you - put them through a vetting check.

Please feel free to send me a PM - I have plenty of experience here.

 

[The web design girl]

Hi! I'm not so sure if this will help but there is a company called phone angels who help with answering your calls, giving quotes and sorting out bookings. I think they charge 80p per call. I run a web design company and I'm thinking of using them. I will keep you posted if I do use them. Please let me know if try before me. Also, congratulations on having a business that is thriving. It's a great accomplishment. If you keep on top of it it will go from strength to strength.

 

[jdluckhurst]

Simple solution, line up subbies. You can grow your business as normal and the subbies can take care of the work for you - put them through a vetting check.

Please feel free to send me a PM - I have plenty of experience here.

Yep, white label your leads to people you have already qualified yourself if you don't feel like the business is in a position to afford hiring extra hands. Although I agree with everyone saying that you need to remove yourself from front line. As a business grows and if it comes to sell, a major hindrance is when the management and owner(s) are still doing most of the work. Invest in your people.

 

[PDW Electrical Services]

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice , gaudiness in the following situation.
I run small plumbing and heating company and luckily the business is growing . I have two employees who work for full time and we have twice as much inquires as we had last year .
I've got to the stage where I can't any more work with the tools , answer the phone calls, do the quotes and deal with the costumers etc.
I have to turn down lot's of costumers because I could not take the work. I feel like I 'm losing control because I can't reply to emails and answer all the phone calls.
We have really great reputation and is very important to me to maintain that .
I would really like to grow but I do not know what my next step should be business wise. I have a really hard time finding another engineer and thinking about the prospect of hiring PA.

Possibly some of you faced situation like that and can give me some advice.

Many Thanks

Hi yellowsenska

I am currently in a similiar situation to yourself, maybe alittle behind your stage at the moment, but definatley at saturation point

I have always been aiming to start distancing myself from the practical work and concertrate more on the business

However i also know how hard it is for you to fill your position withother people, especially with keeping the same high standards

i know people say 'just get subbies in to do the work', but you have maybe found what i have and thats when your problems start and thats the fastest way to loose your good reputation
if you dont find good enough people, and when you do find good enough people most of them sure aint going to want to work for someone else!(my experiences anyway)

Its not half as easy as in other businesses to do this as it gets such a personal relationship between you and your client, they trust you and want you to do their job, not one of your subbies

Anyways keep this thread updated on your progess if you can as i would be really interested on how you progress!

Good luck!

 

[harper101]

Its not half as easy as in other businesses to do this as it gets such a personal relationship between you and your client, they trust you and want you to do their job, not one of your subbies

Anyways keep this thread updated on your progess if you can as i would be really interested on how you progress!

Good luck!

Like this thought!

I hope so that there be a positive update about this=)

 

[Bob Philpin]

These are some great answers - even helped me and got me thinking!

But there's one question that you HAVE to start with before you do anything...

What do you actually WANT to achieve out of running your own business?

Do you want to be "hands-on" or "hands-off"..for example?

Start with the end in mind and then work backwards!

Bob

 

[Louis Smith]

Hi Yellowsenska

I think you should consider the following questions before you make any decision:

What do you really want next stage? To expand your business or to remain the present size?
Is your business seasonal?
Are you an engineer? Could you do the technical work?
Where did you find the current two employees? Did they know any engineers?
Will you consider any trainee engineer?

The above questions will help you get a clearer idea about where you want to go for your business. Hope it is helpful to you.

best wishes,

Louis
Cooper Kaplan Partners