Quality Service Contractors explore human behavior and the marketplace

How it affects a service contractor’s business.

One of the themes of the Quality Service Contractors 41st Power Meeting — held Sept. 9-12 in Nashville, Tenn. — was understanding human behavior and how it affects a service contractor’s business. QSC Business Coach Beth Dobkinand consultant Vicki LaPlant of Vital Learning Experiences touched on the subject when discussing how service businesses can build success by recruiting women.

“We need to train our own people; women are the largest untapped resource for the industry,” Dobkin said.

Former Harley-Davidson communications director Ken Schmidt explains to Quality Service Contractor members how Harley-Davidson uses the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to get to know its customers and potential customers by observing their behavior.Photo credit: Kelly Faloon/Plumbing & Mechanical

LaPlant added that women are often the decision makers when it comes to purchasing residential equipment for the home. And since women think differently than men, having a women plumber or HVAC tech is an asset.

QSC members also heard from Ken Schmidt, former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Co. His message — do something positive to differentiate yourself from your competition.

“When competitors look like each other, when products look the same, consumers can’t tell the difference,” he said.

Schmidt explained how Harley-Davidson went from almost certain bankruptcy to the premier motorcycle brand — by studying the behavior of its customers and then giving them a “lifestyle experience” with visible passion and enthusiasm from every Harley-Davidson employee.

Other speakers included Ben Tyson from Google, who discussed the importance of making your website and other online marketing efforts easy to access and interact with on mobile devices; and Jeremiah Webb from Power Selling Pros about booking more calls by using principles that show the customer your company cares about solving the problem.

The next QSC meeting is Feb. 26-28, 2015, in Scottsdale, Ariz. u

HELPFUL LINKS:

Quality Service Contractors (QSC)

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Kelly Faloon was a former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical as well as the BNP Media Plumbing Group’s Integrated Content Development Specialist. She also was a former editor of the Radiant Comfort Guide the Radiant & Hydronics Report — both official publications of the Radiant Professionals Alliance — and twice-monthly Radiant & Hydronics eNews, an enewsletter for anyone interested in the world of heating with hot water.

Her editorial specialties included women in plumbing, recruiting for the trades, green construction techniques, water conservation, water treatment, hydronic heating, radiant heating and cooling, snow melt, solar thermal and geothermal.

After a 3½-year stint at sister publication Supply House Times, Faloon joined the PM staff in December 2001 as senior editor. She was named PM’s managing editor in 2006 and editor in 2013.

Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a 1986 journalism graduate of Michigan State University.