FloorRight Estimating Software by Pacific Solutions

12/14/2021

Industry Best Insights ...

Critical Role for Peak Profit Flooring Business:
Internal Software Trainer ( or Internal Software Training Coordinator )

Software efficiency is not only knowing HOW to do it, it is being able to do it QUICKLY, ACCURATELY, and CONSISTENTLY. Like sales training or life coaching, business system (software) usage improvement should be a never ending process in every business.

Among the most critical roles to create and give high priority to in your flooring business is an internal software trainer, or at least someone designated to coordinate software training from your software provider.

Peak profit companies don’t rely on the initial training they got with the software, and they don’t rely on each individual employee to verify they are processing their own work correctly. They assign someone to adopt the role of their internal software trainer to get new employees up to speed quick and proper, make sure existing employees are all using the software properly, according to your best business model, and they learn and review new features with top management first, then train everyone else BEFORE new features are implemented (IF they are right for your business).

“When everyone is in charge, no one is in charge.”

If there is no one verifying that everyone in operations is using the software correctly and in a harmonized way, it’s almost certain you are much less efficient than you could be (leaving $$$ on the table).

The best way to get consistent results and peak profit, whether you have 5, 10, or 20+ software users in your business, is to have someone train, supervise, and VERIFY how each employee uses your business software. Just having an employee attend a training class does not mean they got it. You must have someone who knows and understands the software abilities and YOU business, verify that each employee is consistently following your chosen discipline. Your internal trainer should continue to train them as needed and routinely as consistently as we conduct sales or production meetings. New employees should be trained first by this person, and their skills verified, BEFORE they fill the role they were hired for.

Budget Perpetual Training from your Software Vendor

There is ALWAYS room for improvement that translates into more profit. Training (only on the features that FIT your business) is MUCH cheaper than paying wages and salaries of undertrained staff. Whether it’s training on new features or training on modules you are not taking advantage of, there is always always always more to learn and adopt as a discipline that translates into saved staff time (reduced overhead cost), increased accuracy (increased GP), and improved backup data to speedily and accurately resolve issues with vendors, customers, installers, or employees.

Don’t wait till you know there is a problem before you schedule training. Have 2 hours of elearning prescheduled at least once per quarter, have your internal trainer coordinate what needs to be covered, take notes of the training, and record it. Then train and retrain applicable staff until it’s a consistent habit for everyone.

The internal trainer is not their boss. They may also be a sales person, sales manager, accounting staff, and so on. So while we do need them to verify software is being used properly (jobs are being processed properly from Quote to Close, Product Catalog is proper, payments are processed properly, etc), they are not everyone’s supervisor. So how does it work if they do not have authority to require compliance? The top level of management, often the owner in flooring business, has to provide the necessary authority by being aware of anyone who is not getting it, and address the situation as needed.

09/21/2021

Effective hiring strategy working well for Flooring Financial and their clients.

7 FLOORING FINANCIAL HIRING TIPS IN 2021

Seems some tried and true methods of the past are no longer working in some markets.
Multiple interviews? They are already hired before your 2nd interview.

Here some things that are currently helping us hire successfully in 2021.

1- Post an ad that describes the person that you want 80%. Describe skill set 20%. If the skill set is not one you personally have the expertise to vet, let someone else verify their specific skills (your CPA if it’s accounting, another estimator can test them on estimating software, your internal system trainer or your software provider’s trainer (buy an hour of e-Learning) can verify system-specific knowledge, your accounting service provider like Flooring Financial Inc. can interview for accounting admin staff, etc.) You need a blue person for a blue job, so describe the person you are looking for (enjoys training others, enjoys working in multiple roles in a small locally owned business that is involved in local community, etc.).

2- Postings are often highest on the weekend when potential employees are more likely to be off from their current job. Post your job at the end of the week if you are only running it for a limited number of days. We like indeed.

3- Score resumes quickly. Have your best resume evaluator go over resumes within a day of receiving resumes, and identify ones that look promising, and phone them now. Chat about the work and let them tell you as much as they choose to about themselves as it related to your business. Often an initial phone call gathers enough information to know it cannot work, or to know they look very promising. The phone call is as much about describing the job and company for them to evaluate, as it is listening to their answers. You are looking for a great “fit” for both of you. Let them know that. Help them verify the schedule, location, tasks, workmates really will meld with them. Approach the call as if you are their career coach, rather than the employer. Together, you can determine the likelihood of a good fit.

4- Be prepared to make an offer at the first on premise interview. That means you’ve kept notes on your phone call to review with your hiring decision makers. Review their resume and phone call notes in detail before the interview. If more than one person is going to interview them, get it setup in 30-45 minute interviews that are contiguous, no delays. Once you have all talked to them, have a quick side bar and decide now, before they leave. If it’s a no, thank them and get back to work. If it a yes, offer them the job right then, and determine when they can comfortably start. Don’t squeeze their schedule too tight; if they need to give a two week notice and also need a week “off”, help them achieve that.

5- Offer what the job is worth if they work out as well as you hope they do. We used to pay new hires at the bottom of a range that we thought gave us room to give them incremental pay raises until we reached the cap of that range. Today we find that doesn’t work. Instead of thinking let’s start them at $45K and gradually hope they become worth $60K, for example, we need to offer them $60K to start. The pay should represent the caliber of performance you want and need for someone who is succeeding in that position. Nowhere can we buy top-tier quality for a lot less than it is worth; not in equipment, not in real estate, and not in human resources. Assume they are going to do as well as you hope they will, and pay them that amount right up front. True, it may not work out (see item 7), but start with everything in place for them to succeed, especially their compensation.

6- Train them repeatedly, incrementally, over a period of time. Put together a training program that is as high caliber as the results you want them to produce. You are already covering the biggest investment of their salary. Budget hours of internal training and e-learning training from your system provider. The training should be incremental, repetitive, and spread across weeks or months. It is much more expensive to pay salaries of employees that are under trained, than to buy the training. Get a couple hours of e-Learning every few weeks or so, until they are totally proficient in the system. (PS: You really should also develop an internal training system, but that’s a different post.)

7- Since you must hire fast, and since you are going to pay for the quality you hope to get, you have to be prepared to let people go once it becomes abundantly clear it is not the right fit. And then repeat steps 1-6 again. Unless you wish to absorb the tasks into your own schedule, be as energetic and aggressive about finding the right person and filling the position as you are about going into the marketplace to find more sales revenue. Getting the right people into your organization is as valuable to your capacity, reputation, and quality of life, as any other business decisions you make. And once you have the right people, using the right tools, and following the right process, the rewards are so extremely worth it.

11/10/2011

Accurate quantity with carpet or carpet tile, stable on a local or WAN network, and doesn't collapse no matter how large the job ... there is only one flooring estimating software that qualifies for these three.