Your Future Seeds / Planting Seeds / Pumpkin Plan
Mar 16, 2022
YOUR FUTURE SEEDS
It's really up to you. Is it time to start planting those future seeds?
Carbon neutral and net-zero by 2035. No, wait, hang fire; this is not another article about air source heat pumps. Stay with us!
This quick read is about you, your family and planning for your future business because, if we like it or not, change is coming! Most people reading this article probably can't stop the changing market or government policies and the changes in what will or won't be available to your customers in the coming years. But we can and must prepare for the future and the changes within the industry that will come.
We would like you to think of your business as a plant.
No, not a weed or pretty little daisy, but imagine you are growing big fat Halloween Pumpkin! Yes, yes, Halloween has passed but stay with us on this! If you're wondering why we are talking pumpkins (aside from the fact it's just been Halloween!), you should check out one of our recommended books. The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz. An excellent book about identifying, choosing, marketing for, and serving only the very best customers whilst ignoring everyone else. But what have Pumpkins got to do with Heating & Aircon engineers?
Some time ago
As installation/service engineers, traditionally, we would upskill ourselves with qualifications and skills to do the manual part of the trade. Register with Refcom, NICEIC, NAPIT, Corgi, Gas Safe and away we go!
It used to be relatively easy to get going and almost immediately find ourselves busy in no time. Why? Because we were entering a market where there was an excess of demand for the amount of supply.
In non-jargon terms? More units needed installing or repairing than there were qualified engineers to fit or fix them.
The value of qualified tradespeople went through the roof. For a short time, some people left their high paying careers to qualify in those trades, building their own highly paid lifestyle business.
When the papers started reporting the profits in the trades, it caused a massive influx of new engineers, and the balance of supply and demand evened out.
Lessons learned
The chances are that supply and demand for future technologies will follow the same pattern. Indeed, there will be the ones that time it right and the ones that join too late. So, let's learn from this, stop thinking like busy engineers, and start planning for the future like the savvy business owners we want to be. If you're going to be a leader, you must plant your future business seeds now!
So, back to Pumpkins.
The Pumpkin Plan book and its metaphor teach that our business and its customers are like pumpkins. Do you want to grow a field of tiny little pumpkins that nobody is interested in? Or do you want to nurture a few prize-winning monster pumpkins and win awards?
I know most people in the UK don't care about the size of pumpkins or winning pumpkin awards. But wording it differently, do you want to grow a business trying to serve everyone? Gas, Oil, LPG, Electric & Hydrogen Boilers. Boiler service plans, Commercial Heating, Aircon, Electrics, Car Charging Points, Heat Pumps, Solar Thermal & Biomass?
Or would you rather build your business to plan and grow your customer database full of the very best and most profitable customers? If you prefer the latter option, what seeds will you plant now, and will you invest time to nurture them? Will you be the local leader in your town or city in 2031?
So, what next?
- Start to educate yourself. Which horses are the ones to back when it comes to new technologies?
- Qualifications are essential, but perhaps business planning and development should become more of a priority?
- Review your direction and ambition at this time. If you're planning on retiring in 5 to 10 years, do industry changes affect you?
- Track your data to spot trends and changes across time. You can only adapt and make better business decisions based on the data you have.
- Be the local guide. It's your responsibility to help the public understand the technology. Learning about marketing will bring customer trust and subsequent sales.
- Download the Audible App, and listen to the Pumpkin Plan. Or order the book from Amazon.
- Join The Boiler Business Community, develop your business with other like-minded people within the industry.
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CALL TO ACTION BOX
There is no one size fits all strategy for business. Every business is different to the next. This type of topic is discussed daily between 1400 heating engineers in The Boiler Business Community. Do not flick over, join us right now, this second, for Industry-focused Business chat, videos & future training dates, search Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/TheBoilerBusiness
