[Master Mark]

The Ben franchise in our town goes through employees like you would not believe... Most are not happy and are dis-satisfied after a very short while...
I know some folks who have had this experience and from what they claim... only the inner, inner circle of brown-nose employees actually make a decent living and everyone else lower in rank gets the scraps and dog crap calls that no one wants.

The newer guys also get to clean up messes and mistakes that others higher up make and being on commission they get paid nothing for their time doing and repairing warranty work for others who always happen to be off that specific day.. and they always seem to be thrown this kind junk work....
NOW,, this would chap my ass pretty quickly. These are just stories that I have been told by close friends that went through this ringer for a year or two and quit...


I would find it very, very hard to put up with the sales, sales ,sales
and the dog and pony show meetings that the employees have to go through every week....


Keeping boots on the ground and bodies in trucks with this kind of situation going on would be very difficult

 

[Master Mark]

Yea but in some cases it has nothing to do with pricing but instead flat out misdiagnosis (maybe even lying) to land a bigger ticket. I didn't want to get into too my detail but as I said when a customer calls and I look at their issue (early 90's home with low water pressure) and discover a shot regulator that needs replacing then said customer shows estimate to repipe the whole house or a new service main from curb to house...this is the issue! Even my price is expensive but its a true honest diagnosis. Hell, even if it is incompetence...do better training or hire more knowledgeable plumbers.

I see lots of septic system problems that go unnoticed and turn into bigger issue because the pumper is not knowledgable in septic systems...he gets told to go pull this lid and pump 3000 gallons then get the hell outa there and on to the next one.

they are being paid on commission... something like a 40% commission... that is the reason this stuff happens,,, we have probably seen about the same crap going down ...

its all about the money .

 

[Master Mark]

Commission isn't the issue. The ownership/management that has either taught or allowed a culture of dishonest sales tactics is the issue. For every dishonest commission technician you show me, I can show you ten commission techs that are honest.

Commission is not the root of all evil.

I respectfully disagree with you from my own experiences in our city I have run into guys up-selling everything from tankless water heaters at 6900, to total sewer replacements for 20k all the way out to the street.
using whatever scare tactics it takes to seal the deal that day......

I completely understand why this goes on when some companies in our town are literally not paying their employees anything but commission only..... they sit around all day long waiting for the next call and are on hold being paid nothing till that next sucker calls... then the only way they make a buck is to sell, sell...and up-sell....

Rejection is high for these guys so they got to hit it when its hot because if the customer calls me or someone else they are gonna get shown the door..:yes:.

every company is run differently but all you got to do is look to see who ranks the highest on the google generic page and who is not even anywhere to be found.. or their ratings are dog-carp....

there is plenty of blame to go around

 

[Master Mark]

Originally Posted by BOBBYTUCSON View Post
40% commision ? Wow......im not doing that lol
Why not?

If you can pay a plumber well and make a decent profit then why does it matter what the percentage is?



That is the whole problem in our town with some of the franchises right now.... If they paid a salary, there is no incentive for the tech to sell anything but the toilet flapper....

on the other hand most dont pay anything and the starveing tech sees that he really HAS to upsell just to make a decent paycheck for himself every week....... the 40% comission is the brass ring that every tech tries to grab every day on big jobs......

in theory its a win-win for both owner and employee but that is only in theory

and it never seems to work out on the plus side except for the senior brown nose employees....all the new hires starve to death and the is the game that is being played........

the older employees set up the new hires for the kill.....:laughing::laughing:

 

[Master Mark]

I always am surprised when new plumbers that run service hire apprentices. I understand that some jobs might require a second hand but for my business I'm far more profitable to just avoid those types of jobs. If I break $400,000 in sales for the year I will go ahead and hire a plumber. Until then I appreciate not having to deal with the headache that comes with employees.

we have broken that amount as we are just starting the month out... and not really much behind last year at all... My apprentice left on jan 15 and we have gone cold turkey ever since.... Paying the guy 18 an hour plus insurance,, soc sec and workmans comp I know we are saving about $1000 a week since jan...

My Escalara stair climber is the best employee I got.. Its always there every morning ready to go... its always sober and never complains..
it dont need cigarette breaks, and it has not asked for a raise or early pay check yet...

and it dont mind working overtime on satrudays either.:laughing::laughing:

 

[Master Mark]

The problem with this machine is that it weighs 90lbs. Getting over thresholds and 3/4" condensate lines are tough. It also moves very slow and the battery has trouble holding a charge on cold days.

I am very glad that I took your advice and got that stair climber...I personally have taken out a HEAVY 30 years old 75 gallon power vent up a winding staircase all by myself , ans a few others a couple of times this summer and its not been a strain at all...

Its just another kind of lifting that is much easier on the body but takes a few times to get used to...

The thresholds have not been much of a problem either for me so far.

Batteries are CHEAP (90) and you can buy one for practically nothing and keep charged on the shelf in reserve just in case of a mis-hap...

On one job in the late part of the day we took down a 50 gallon short rheem power vent and took out a 50 brad white up some nasty stairs... then the Rheem unit turned out to be damaged and one of us had to run and get another power vent .... I took out the rheem unit by myself and took down the new unit...down these bending stairs...

I think that all this lugging would have killed me without that stair climber:yes::yes: