For business owners, decisions and demands pile up so fast that you feel forced to choose what to address based on how it impacts your company. There’s so little time to revamp, regroup, or re-anything. It can be almost impossible to set time aside for charting your course. That said, 2022 might be the perfect time to implement solutions that increase profits as well as make your life easier. In a time when materials are harder to come by, you want to make the most that you can on every install.
For example, setting aside 2-3 days, in the first quarter, to maintain and rebuild all wearable parts, can go miles toward preventing jobsite breakdowns. Rebuilding a pump in the shop is easier and costs a lot less time and money than repairing in the field. If you’re in the north and have winter off time, add a shop day to hold safety trainings. It’s also a great time to make sure all vehicle maintenance and inspections are done. Check this month’s IDI spray foam tech tip on going through your rig inside and out or the accompanying video for a lot more information on this.
On the fiberglass side, nothing increases yield more than getting the proper break-up and delivery, so it’s a great time to flip or change those hoses and check the seals on your machines. Make sure to clean out the cabinets, blow off the motors, and use a dry lubricant on the chains.
If you have someone selling for you, it’s the perfect time to strategize with them on finding better target projects with higher margins. This is a great time to go over job costing and help them understand where things might have been missed. Work with them to raise their skill level when it comes to bidding. If you are using a software to bid projects, that’s great, but work with your provider to make sure your sales rep is using it to the best of their ability. If you are not using a software, this is the time to find one that works for you.
The real key to bidding software is to make sure it is user friendly and can be used from anywhere. IDI spent the last few years working with insulators and software development companies to come up with BIDIT, a bidding software, made for insulation contractors specifically. For more information on BIDIT, sign up for a demonstration or reach out to your local rep.
What about those targets? When setting the direction for 2022, are you going to do trade shows? If you did them last year, how many jobs did you really get from them? Were they profitable? Before you sign up again, make sure you only do the shows where you got the best return on your investment. What about builders? Do you have some that pay slow and hassle you the most? Replace those and find ones you can make money on.
Depending on your location, maybe it’s time to focus on targeting the agriculture, commercial, or retrofit business. Of course, this will likely require some marketing efforts and creativity. Just like any form of hunting, some of the keys here are picking good target customers, knowing where to find them, and when they are in season. Maybe you run radio ads with a message on comfortable living to start, then switch to health focused messaging and see how many bites you get. The main thing is, if you are trying a message based on comfort or health, your target would likely be feminine. That means ESPN would not be where your ads should run.
Maybe conquering 2022 is as simple as increasing the production rates of the crews you have. Why not run a competition to see who installs the best-looking product in the least amount of time? This is something IDI’s tech team can help with. No matter what you do, the time you invest in preparing your company and crews for 2022 is likely to pay off. If you would like help with software, planning, training, or anything that will help your company in 2022, reach out to your local branch, come to training, or contact any of us at the corporate office. Our goal is to make this the best year your company has ever had.