This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Subscribe
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Edition
    • Archives
    • Product Focus
    • Truck of the Month
    • Plumber of the Month
    • Tool Tips
    • PM Profile
    • Ad Index
    • Bookstore
  • Market Sectors
    • Plumbing News
    • Mechanical Systems
    • Radiant/Hydronics
    • Solar Thermal/Geothermal
    • Green
    • Bath & Kitchen
    • Fire Protection
    • Water Quality
    • Technology
    • Codes
    • Business Management
  • Columnists
    • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
    • Al Levi: Managing your business
    • Dan Holohan: Heating Help
    • Kenny Chapman: Blue Collar Coach
    • Adams Hudson: Marketing Strategies
    • Jim Hamilton: The Bottom Line
    • Ray Wohlfarth: The Boiler Room
    • Nicole Krawcke: Editorial Opinion
    • Julius Ballanco: Plumbing Primer
    • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
  • Blog
    • The 7-Power Contractor
    • PM On The Road
  • Radiant & Hydronics
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Gallery
    • PM Network Videos
    • PM YouTube Channel
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • Showrooms
    • Interactive Spotlights
    • Mobile App
    • eBook
  • Products
  • More
    • History of Plumbing
    • Rep Locator
    • B.I.G. Book
    • Industry Calendar
    • Classified Ads
    • Industry Links
    • Radiant Comfort Guide
    • Radiant & Hydronics Report
    • Green Plumbing & Heating
    • PVF Outlook
    • PB Outlook
    • Sponsor Insights
    • eNewsletters
    • Subscribe to Plumbing Group eNewsletters
    • Market Research
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Home » Are the stings set up by TV stations fair to contractors?
Plumbing NewsAl Levi: Managing your businessColumnistsBusiness Management

Are the stings set up by TV stations fair to contractors?

Are the stings set up by TV stations fair to contractors?
November 27, 2017
Al Levi
KEYWORDS business coaching / contractor training / contractors
Reprints
No Comments

There’s not a lot of love out there for us contractors, is there?

We as plumbers keep good water from bad water. We help keep the water flowing and the sewage moving where it’s supposed to go.

As heating contractors, we make our homes, businesses and factories more inhabitable and even downright comfortable. And as cooling contractors, we make areas of the country that would be too hot to be inhabitable — like where I live in Phoenix, for example — livable.

People love to complain about the money we charge for what we do. I think we’re incredibly cheap for all that we do, including making you — the public — warmer, cooler, safer and healthier. Am I right? You bet I am!

So, why this fascination with these sting operations set up by TV news stations?

Although it sounds like a good idea, it’s not often fair. There are some unscrupulous contractors out there who do try to take advantage of the unsuspecting customer, and they should be held accountable, but the majority of us contractors do what we do to help people.

So, I get upset when I see the way these TV shows set up “the problem” that the contractor is asked to uncover with hidden cameras can also be equally unscrupulous.


What can you do to minimize this happening to you? Train like heck. The first line of defense on this needs to be a very strong offense.


For instance, they take a furnace that may be 25 years old or more and rig up a problem. A well-trained technician should be properly trained by you to go through a step-by-step process to find the root cause and make a suggestion about what needs to be repaired. But, the unit is statistically reaching the end of its useful lifetime and very unlikely to be as efficient and green as anything that’s been manufactured in the last 10 years.

To me, a tech is obligated to present both a repair and replace option. If a customer wants just the repair, the tech is once again obligated to advise them of the downside to spending a lot of money on a potentially obsolete piece of equipment vital to the safety and comfort of the homeowner. Ultimately, the customer should get to decide — unless it’s a safety issue — and the contractor has to train their techs to do the right thing, not the convenient thing.

Hey, I’ve got a question. Have you ever seen a show like “Catch a Contractor” make as big a deal about all the contractors who did the right thing? Probably not. It doesn’t make for good TV, I guess. The only thing to know is these sting setups are only going to increase and fuel homeowners’ wariness of contractors in general.

Too many times, companies have been either severely hurt by the actions of just one misbehaving tech, or they’ve created a culture that secretly endorses any sales over what I call “ethical sales.”

What can you do to minimize this happening to you? Train like heck. The first line of defense on this needs to be a very strong offense. Here are the things I do to help my clients:

  • We put in detailed operating manuals that talk about gateways to discuss appropriate repair and replace options, so it’s company policy. This way, the individual tech knows when to appropriately have a repair/replace discussion.

  • We put in detailed operating manuals that help techs do a better job in a step-by-step diagnostic to minimize a misdiagnosis. If you don’t have a process and just start anywhere each time you run a plumbing, drain, heating or cooling call, you’re going to miss something. It’s not an “if” — it’s a “when.” That is costly in more ways than you can imagine.

  • We role play in the hands-on training center they’ve constructed, which makes the use of the manuals a way to help techs look around without the blinders so they see the whole job as a system and can be more of an expert advisor. Many times, the problem is not in the place where it’s showing it. You’re obligated as a tech to look at the system as a whole.

  • The manuals give the techs good questions to be asking (kind of like a doctor should do with you when you need a checkup) so they get to the right solution and they don’t skip steps. For example, techs should ask questions like “When did this problem start?” and “Is this the only area of the home having this problem?”

  • If and when something does come up, the company can cite that they have manuals, they do training and they have mystery shoppers hired to make sure that everyone at the company is performing to the highest standards.

You can’t afford to be winging it, and you must be proactive — not just reactive.

Smile, you’re on camera.

pm-subscribe

Recent Articles by Al Levi

Al Levi: 5 ways to get the most out of trade shows

Al Levi: Create your own sales acronym

Al Levi: Self-study, group study, or personal coach?

Al Levi: Busting the multitasking myth

Al Levi: Demanding vs. pursuing perfection

200x200_7power-blog

Al Levi teaches contractors how to run their businesses with less stress and more success through his book, seminars, webinars and his exclusive 1-to-1 consulting practice. Also check out Al’s latest business adventure as part of Zoom Franchise Company at www.zoomdrain.com/franchise-opportunity. It’s a living example of the power of manuals and more — in action.

Related Articles

Stop procrastinating and get your project done

How to fully utilize radio and TV marketing

Al Levi: Self-study, group study, or personal coach?

How to create a proactive marketing plan

Related Events

Press and Profit: Why you should be using & profiting from press technology

AEC BuildTech

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Subscribe For Free!
  • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

PM's Top 20 Products of 2017

PM’s Top 20 Products of 2018

Ray Wohlfarth

Ray Wohlfarth: The case for 2 psig

Get laser focused in your business

How does a business improve?

Krawcke-Nicole

Plumbing & Mechanical names Krawcke chief editor

Uponor.jpg

Uponor wins project of the year award for Hutchinson facility

PM_2019BigBook_360


PM_Top20Products360

Events

July 24, 2018

Increase Word of Mouth for Your Business with Online Reviews

ON DEMAND: Most people will recognize that word of mouth is your best form of marketing. Whether they’re recommending your store to their close circle or sharing their feelings on an online review site, what they say can go a long way toward convincing potential customers to do business with you. So what can you to harness the voice of your customers and make sure it is reaching the right people at the right time?

February 19, 2019

KBIS 2019

This year’s show will be held in Las Vegas from February 19-21, 2019.

View All Submit An Event

Products

Valve Handbook

Valve Handbook

Revised to include details on the latest technologies, Valve Handbook, Third Edition, discusses design, performance, selection, operation, and application. This updated resource features a new chapter on the green technology currently employed by the valve industry, as well as an overview of the major environmental global standards that process plants are expected to meet.

See More Products

Pm How-To Directory Videos


pm event/webinar flag

Plumbing and Mechanical

Feb 2019 PM cover

2019 February

Check out February 2019 issue of Plumbing & Mechanical , featuring the KBIS 2019 Preview, and much more.

View More Subscribe
  • Resources
    • Reprints
    • List Rental
    • Contact Us
    • AEC Store
    • Blogs
    • Radiant & Hydronics
    • Industry Links
    • Market Research
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • Privacy Policy
  • Want More
    • Connect
    • Survey And Sample
  • Plumbing Group
    • PM Engineer
    • Reeves Journal
    • Supply House Times

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing