Getting Paid + Our Customer Service Maxim

Business brain episode 461 for Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Greetings folks and welcome to Business Brain where we are tuning our business brains together every single week. That way we get a little value out of this and it keeps us on the path to living that charmed life. Sponsors for this episode include a new sponsor, Miro m I r o.com podcast. That is not a generic term. Well, it is, but it is the correct link and you can create these virtual whiteboards and your first three Miro boards are free at that length forever. And also factormeals.com brain50 where code brain50 gets you 50% off your first box. We'll talk more in depth about both of those in a little bit. For now, having fun with contractors here in Durham, New Hampshire. I'm Dave Hamilton.

Everybody loves contractors. I'm out here in California. We have a lot of this is Shannon Jean and we could probably share some contractor stories. And there's some awesome contractors out there and probably the most successful ones are listening to this show right now.

I would think so. I talked about an electrician that I had at my house back in I probably talked about this in February, late February on the show. They were here, he was here, his team was here in late January. And in February at the 30 day mark, I was sort of pondering when I might see an invoice for these guys, having been here all day putting in some Ethernet cable for me. Here we are at the end of June and that day has yet to pass. And yep. And like the thing is, I am not surprised. This is a classic issue. I've experienced it from the other side myself when I was doing starting out doing a lot of computer consulting. But it really could be anything. Even like when I was mowing lawns, like the first business I created, I, you know, if you don't bill your customers, they will rarely pay you. If you do bill your customers, especially if you're in the service business, like mowing lawns, fixing people's computers, being an electrician, they will almost always pay you. I mean, you're certainly going to find some clients that don't. But by and large, if it's you doing something of value for another person, there's a relationship there. They're probably not going to ignore your bill when it shows up. They want to pay you, they asked you to do the work, you told them what the rate was like you did all the right things they like. And now you're just not asking them for money. That's the part that changes it from a hobby into a business. If you're, if you're not billing people, you're not, you're not in business.

You may not be surprised to know I have a lot to say about this topic.

No, no.

Because I've, I've been involved in this too.

Yeah.

And I, I sometimes I think it's inefficiency.

Yes. We say it all the time. None of us, few of us get into business because we love invoicing people.

Correct.

Right. Like we want to do a thing and provide a service, widget value of some sort. But you, you like. This is part of it. You have to bill your clients. And as awkward as it is as it might seem to you as the person who did the work, you're like, oh, I love this work. I would do it anyway. But that's fine. But it's still okay to bill your clients. And it's going to be less awkward for them if you bill them than if you don't bill them. Because now here I am, five months out from when this work was done, when he finally bills me. If I have a question about the, like, wow, that invoice seems higher. This doesn't seem right. Like, now it's, it's like, it's not in anyone's recent memory. It's just. It's bad bill people.

Yeah. I also think sometimes it can be imposter syndrome where they don't feel confident in billing. And so if you don't like that part of it, you need to get somebody to do it for you. The other thing I will just say about this topic is there's never been a time in our business history that it's easier to bill people.

Huh.

Most of it can be. Yeah. Most of it can be automated. Most of it can be paid with credit card. I would argue that the 2 to 3% you're going to pay with a credit card is. Could be the best money you ever spend. Not only because.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Not only because it just makes it easy to pay, but it also separates you from the payment process and the pain of making a payment. It's the same reason why the casinos give you chips and don't let you gamble with cash.

Right.

You. Your mind starts thinking it's different and yeah. You get your credit card statement.

Sure.

You know, you're just a little different. It's why everybody has subscriptions.

Yeah.

Yes. One step removed. Set up automated billing. When you have a new client, get their credit card, don't nickel and dime them with the 2 to 3% because you miss one billing and you've made up all that 2 to 3%. You're trying to get people to pay and and just set it up. It works and you can thank me later.

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Man, so much opportunity.

So much opportunity. Yeah. And you probably own your own shop within 10 years. Like really apprentice with somebody and then, you know, you might even wind up taking their shot because they're, they're you know, the average age of contractors is. Is just rising. It's crazy. But this guy has been. He is. He does great work. Like really meticulous and all of that. And perhaps for the same reason. He's got, you know, some personality quirks that make him not so good at customer service. His. I think I might have ranted about it on the show here where he like the estimate he sent us didn't even break out. What the cost of the parts were like toilets and things like that. He was going to charge us 450 bucks for a toilet that should be like 100. But he was. One of the bathrooms is kind of in our finished basement. We're redoing it. It's never been a great bathroom. It now it really is. It's almost done at this point. But it has a shower in there. And you know, it's low ceilings. It's a finished basement. And so, you know, I need to be able to fit in there. I'm six three. I can fit the old one. I presumption that I would fit. See where this is going in the new one. Right. And so. But they completely rebuilt the shower. The contractor we have doing it did great work. It's frigging amazing. I'm probably going to shower there all the time because it's awesome. Right? But the plumber brought this drain in, right. And he's. And the drain was going to raise up the floor like three inches. And my wife saw it and she was like, what is.

So you're gonna have to step up.

What is this basically? Yeah. And. And it's like stepping up is fine. Like we've got enough room where I could fit still with a little bit of a step up. But like this was gonna be a huge step up. And the shower was gonna be, you know, I'm like six three. The shower was gonna be less than six feet. Right. Like I would have had to like crouch to be in this shower. And my wife goes to this plumber and says, well, hey, that that's not going to work. He's like, no, this is the only way to do it. And listen, if a contractor ever says that to you, that's when you know they're wrong. Because there's always another way. Right? But he had my. In this, in this conversation, he had my wife convinced that he wasn't going to do it another way. You know, certainly there in his.

Yeah. What he was really saying in his brain is we've always done it this way.

Correct.

One of the Six things you never.

Say, never say, right? But he was saying, no, this is how we're going to do it. And she's like, my husband won't fit in the shower. She's like, we're not going to pay, you know, whatever, 15 grand for this bath or whatever. We're paying 20 grand for the bathroom, whatever it works out to be for a shower that my husband and my son can't use. And the guy said, well, you have two other showers in your house. Oh, man. Like. Like, if it. Yeah, like, he. He definitely, like, he found another thing to add to the list, right? Of, you know, oh, don't worry about it. Like, you just won't use this. You'll pay for it, but you won't use it.

It's a huge mistake.

Huge mistake. Like, if we weren't already not planning to hire him again, that put him on the list. And by the time I got home, my wife Lisa was like, I can't figure this. Like, what are we going to do? This is a disaster. I'm like, well, let's go look at this. Like, everybody had left by this point in the evening, so none of the contractors are there. And she shows me the drain, and I'm like, yeah, okay. Like, that's it. I'm like, but I look at the drain, I'm like, well, I don't know anything about this stuff, but I do know that I could cut off the bottom ring of this drain and stuff it inside it. Now I've just saved an inch and a half, and there's probably another way to do it. And I'm like, there's always another way. She was like, no. He said, there's no other way. I'm like, yeah, in his mind, there's no other way. But in our house, there's definitely another way, right? And this is the lesson that I dealt with a bunch when I was managing my first real team of people that I managed. And I screwed a lot of things up there. But one thing that I noticed early on and always had to work with was I was managing a team of people that were nerds, right? Like, going out, like, pre Geek Squad, it was. The business was called computer nerds, going out and fixing people's computers. And some of these nerds that we had, a lot of them, in fact, not all, but a lot of them would fix the client's computer as though it were their own. And. And others would advise the client as to what they would do if it were their own, but acknowledging that it wasn't would then stop and listen and have the client tell them what they wanted them to do. You gave your advice, now you listen, and then you do what the client asks. You know, it's that simple. And this guy did. Does not get that. And certainly in that moment, that day when he told Lisa, oh, you have two other showers in your house. What's the big deal? You know, and he's a short guy, by the way.

You'll tell that story forever.

Yes. Oh, yeah.

Unfortunately, in. You know, for. Not. Not in his favor. Unfortunately, no.

But I managed a lot of people like this, and it was like I had to train them, and some of them were untrainable. I get the feeling this guy might have fallen into this category if I were his manager in that regard, but I'd have to. No, you give them your advice, and then you close your mouth and open your ears and listen. And the client knows your advice because you gave it to them and that was valuable and they paid you for that. And now the gears are changing. And this was the thing that usually if I was gonna get somebody to understand this, this was the way to do it, I would say, and now your job changes. You are. You went from being consultant advisor to worker bee, and you've given the client all the information that the consultant needs to give them, and now you go to worker be mode and let them tell you what they want you to do, and then you do it. And of course, if it's something that you're, like, completely unwilling or unable to do, you tell them that and work that out. Whatever. Whatever that next step is, you know, they. Yeah, well, I think that can't do the impossible, but. Yeah, but you can do what they ask if what they ask is not impossible. I agree. Yeah, good stuff.

I think that, yeah, contractor stories are awesome. If you have some feedback at BusinessBrain show, because there's always lessons and some real nuggets. And again, I love contractors. They make things happen. Absolutely. Good ones are priceless, and I'm sure they're listening today. And if you have some stories about ones that aren't or are, let us know.

Yeah, the stories work both directions. Again, check out our sponsors, FactorMeals.com brain50code brain50 and Miro.com podcast. Keep living that charm life and we'll see you next time.