I was recently reading a great newsletter from Dr. Alan Zimmerman, a well-known author and motivational speaker. Most of what you read these days are new age theories and sometimes I cannot relate. He has a list of what he calls the ABC’s of Success. We all have read some of these quick hitters, but I thought a few were worth sharing.
Arrive a little early for every date or appointment.
One of our core values is to be professional. A lot of people have that as a value they want their company and employees to achieve. If you are constantly late, you will not be viewed as professional. This takes a lot of effort and constant communication when running a service business where minutes and hours count. When equipment is down, it can be very expensive for industrial customers or very uncomfortable for commercial customers. We must be on time or get approval from the customer to make different arrangements. Bottom line is do not make being a little late a habit or you will lose confidence with your customer.
Complete every assigned task.
Wow, that sounds simple and a no-brainer. But in the maintenance world, accountability is often a mystery. Who is really watching and making sure what you sold and what you deliver is always completed? Our system assures that you know exactly what we are doing in real time, online. You always know where we are in the process. Integrity is a value that is ingrained in our system. If we cannot give you complete assurance that what we promise is what we will deliver, the ballgame is over.
Do a little bit more than is required.
We like to say that caring is a core value everyone must have to work at Hays. People do not know how much you really care about their situation until you prove it with action. When they see you are willing to go the extra mile without them asking, you earn their respect. This leads to high trust and we will perform at much higher levels when our customers see that we care about them and their situation. Our guys and gals love to please and go beyond the norm.
Work at your work.
We think to be committed you must constantly be learning new things, embracing new technology, and doing anything you can to help a customer avoid premature equipment failure and spending capital funds unnecessarily. So, we must work at getting better at what we do every day. This takes training from outside resources, using mentors inside the company to teach, using hands-on activities, and really concentrating on what our customers need today. Most of this is going on behind the scenes but it is constant in our company. If you are not working on yourself, you will not stay on top in this business very long.
These are a few ABC’s of success that make sense to me and fit nicely with our core values and company philosophy. Please contact us and let us sit down and chat about what we can do to help you maintain your assets in your building or plant. I promise you will learn something you can use in the future!
– Cal