This content is shared by Contractor In Charge. It’s easy to consider social media as a vanity, a time-waster, or a lark—however for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC companies, social networks can actually be powerful tools. They create valuable touchpoints with your customer base and can be especially effective for generating business from your maintenance agreements. And, with the right social media content, you can make your home service business seem more trustworthy and authoritative—helping customers feel more confident giving you their business. But what is the right kind of social media content for your home service business? There are a couple of different categories to consider, and each is potentially useful. Content That Humanizes Your Business Customers will feel more comfortable inviting you into their homes and entrusting you with maintenance and repair needs if they have some sense of who you are—and if they see your technicians as human beings, not a nameless/faceles...

This content is shared by Contractor In Charge. “Thank you for providing me with your estimate. I’ll make my final decision after I gather the rest of my quotes.” It’s something that home service providers hear all the time. Homeowners who say this is playing it smart, ensuring that each service contractor they call feels compelled to give their best price, their best service, their best value. It also frees the homeowner from having to listen to a lot of pushy sales rhetoric. But what’s great for the homeowner can sometimes be rather frustrating for the home service contractor. Simply put, you want to beat out your competitors—and when a homeowner is weighing multiple quotes, you want to make sure yours is the one they pick. What can you do to make that happen? Beating Out Your Competition Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Affirm the homeowner. Don’t speak ill of your competitors, and don’t let the homeowner know that you’re frustrated with them. Instead, tell them they...

Contractor In Charge Shared this article content. Several home service businesses have told Contractor In Charge that they think they need inventory and an inventory management system. However, that could be the start of a big mistake: assuming your business needs to stock parts and supplies itself, by failing to look at the big picture. The first question service business owners really need to ask is, “Should I even carry inventory?” Remember that there are two types of inventory: the inventory technicians carry on their trucks, and the inventory a business carries in a warehouse to replenish its trucks or to supply installation jobs. When determining whether to carry one or both types of inventory, here are three things to consider: How is your cash flow? Inventory is an asset, so it is essentially money sitting in a truck or warehouse that otherwise would be available to spend. Do you have the cash available to invest in that asset, and if so, how much return on it can you get? ...