Ev's Answers: May 2022

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Why We NEED HUMAN Salespeople

I am in sales. I have been in different sales roles throughout my life.

I know people generally hate salespeople, or at least dealing with them, however the simple truth is that
as long as there are products that are made, there needs to be salespeople.

As much as we think dealing with automation is great and avoids us having to deal with salespeople, you should WANT to deal with a real person!

This is an example why.
Below is a real conversation I had when I was trying to call a company to get an estimate for roofing and gutter work in the late summer of 2021.
I went to their website and there was NOT a phone number.
You had to open a chat window.

I changed the company name and the phone numbers given, however the rest is the actual conversation:

Company T Live Chat

25 Aug Wednesday

Welcome to COMPANY T. How can we help you?

Do you do gutters too when you do a roof?

Let me see if I can get some information on that. Which city/state is the job site located in?

Milwaukee WI

Okay. Are you the property owner?

Yes

Great. May I have your name, phone number and email in case we need to contact you later?

Only if you first tell me if you do gutters

Our Specialist can discuss this in greater detail. How soon are you looking to utilize our roofing services?

I would like to book the project in the next month. I have a couple of estimates and looking for a third because the first two are so radically different

I understand that. For further assistance, I can connect you directly to our office by phone using our Call Connect service. Would you like to speak with someone now?

sure

Perfect. One moment please, I'm attempting to connect you now (please be aware that, for routing purposes, your caller ID will show a 925 area code). Please pick up and wait to be connected. I will be here if you need anything.

Please disregard the above statement. May I please have your phone number to connect you now?

414-555-1212

Thank you. Can you please confirm your name as well?

Everet

Thank you, Justin. One moment please,

You should now be connected. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Thank you for contacting Company T.

The chat session has ended.

The chat bot or person just stopped the communication.
The company never called back. Neither did I call them. Notice they never answered my question about their service.
It was just a tool to get a lead for someone to try and call my number or put on a report about how many leads they gathered during this time.

If I had been able to speak to a REAL person, they might have had a sale.

Their loss.
If you call me, you might get my voicemail sometimes, however I will call you back and we can talk person to person.
No chat boxes.

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

A Funny Take on Hiring

Hiring is something we will all have to do at one point as a business owner.
Cleaning and customer service staff are the two areas we most hire for in the laundry industry.

Right now hiring is very tough and can be very frustrating.
Have you had any applicants (assuming you've had applicants) give you strange answers, fill out applications with bizarre answers, or even hand you a resume?
There are plenty of places, including this blog, that can help you hire more effectively. Since everyone under the sun is trying to give you tips right now on how to hire people,
I thought you might need a break from advice and enjoy this humorous take on hiring in this post:

Funny Application Answers
funny-application-answers

Have a Professional Email Address:
have-professional-email

Very Bad Email Addresses for Job Seekers

very-bad-email-addresses

I publish new laundry related tips almost every week on my blog. These cover everything from hiring staff, repairs, marketing, and just any other issues your laundromat might run into. There are also past articles regarding sales, recruitment, history, and a little humor if you need it. Below the picture are links to articles I thought you might find interesting. Feel free to contact me with ideas or topics you might like to see.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

3 Things Needed in Your Job Ad to Hire Workers

3 Things Needed in Your Ad to Hire Workers?

Everyone in every industry is screaming for help.
Our supply chain in many industries is disrupted because companies can’t get people to fill jobs.
This has led to lots of advertising for companies to use certain online or mass media recruitment services to get their hiring message out to candidates. No matter what you use to recruit, your message must have three things in order to break through the clutter and appeal to job candidates:

1. 1. You have to say how much you are paying. The old days of thinking “we talk money at the time of offer” has long been gone. Candidates hear messages about $15 per hour minimum wage in the news. They know their industry and what their peers are making, don’t think they don’t because all employees let it slip how much they make at some point to someone. Candidates know where opportunities lie in their industry. Don’t insult them by saying things like “we offer competitive wages.” What they think is a competitive wage is different that what you think it is. In a negotiating situation you often try to not be the first person to throw out a number. In recruitment it is an advantage. You will get those people from a competitor that might be making less than you are offering and will love the raise. You will also turn off people making more money for doing the job you are looking for, however you combat that by reading point number two…

2. 2. List all of the unusual benefits the person gets. Health, 401K, long term disability, etc. are all great benefits, but they don’t attract the majority of the candidates. Maybe your company is near a pond that has hiking trails or is available for fishing. Maybe you offer auto oil changes by having a mobile service come to your parking lot. Perhaps you have an employee lunch program. There can be many things that you might not think would be what people are looking for, however it could be the straw that tips the balance. IF two jobs are equal but one job offers free lunch, that company will get the employee. If the candidate that is making more than the money you are advertising, but they don’t get the benefits you are talking about, they will at least call you because they figure if they can get salary equal to what they have now AND GET THE EXTRA BENEFITS they think it will be better because they are getting more than what they are getting somewhere else. This leads to point three…

3. 3. Often times people leave a job because they feel they don’t get recognition from managers and co-workers. Talk about all the ways your company does that. Is there a quarterly meting where awards are given out. Does the president have an open door policy? What kind of rewards are there for people that offer good ideas? What protections are there for candidates that are whistleblowers or offer controversial ideas? Let candidates know they will be appreciated and they will come to check out your company.

Good luck in your search! Save some good people for the rest of us!
On second thought, get all the good people you can right now and make your company strong!

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Dryers Not Heating: Clean Sail Switch

Having a problem with dryers not heating or not heating consistently?

"Sail Switch Open or Closed" errors?

If it isn't a mechanical problem, or dirty sensors
(click link to read that article: dryers-not-heating-clean-sensors.html),

then take a look at the sail switch and damper.

What is the sail switch? It is a safety feature that turns off the heat source (or the dryer itself) if insufficient airflow is detected in the dryer vent.

In short the sail switch is usually a micro mechanical switch that is connected to a metal damper over a hole. When the damper closes the gas flame comes on and heats up the air and the dryer gets hot. If there isn't enough air then the dryer doesn't operate. The trick is the sail switch needs a vacuum to pull it closed over the hole. In order to create a vacuum you need good airflow.

If the edges of the hole, or the damper, are dirty then they don't make a tight seal and no vacuum is created. The damper doesn't close, thereby not clicking the sail switch to let the dryer control board know there is proper airflow and to ignite the gas.

The dampers should be checked and cleaned on a regular basis, MINIMUM when you pull off the front panels to clean your dryers. If you don't pull the front panels off regularly you'll have to clean them more often.

The sail switch and damper can be found on several different areas on different models of dryers. Some are inside the lint compartment, others on the back of the dryer in the open, some are on the back or side of the dryer under a panel. No matter where it is located on your dryer the principal is the same. In the example I'm using an older Maytag stack dryer.

This is the damper. Some models are round, some are square or rectangle shaped. This one is located inside the front panel, in the middle of the dryer, below the top pocket, next to the lint trap.

Notice the dirt on the edge of the damper.

If you move the damper back you see the dirt around the hole the damper closes over. This much dirt is plenty for the damper to not make a tight seal around the hole and therefore no vacuum is created.

This is the same damper as seen from the inside of the lint tray holder with the lint tray removed.

Notice all the dirt and dust around the edge of the hole and on the back of the damper. I removed some dirt so you can see the contrast.

Take a rag and wipe off the dust around the edge of the damper and the inside of the damper. You can use a damp cloth with water or whatever cleaner you prefer, however make sure the damper is COMEPLETELY DRY before starting the dryer, otherwise you will have dirt sticking to the clean areas and have to start all over again because you will have created the very problem you are trying to solve!