Author Archives: Brad Humphrey

Risk Management: Safety First

Risk management is essentially the effort you take as a contractor or construction leader to limit, reduce or eliminate any construction effort that would pose a safety risk.

The legality and science of risk management is quite well known among general contractors and is growing in need to be embraced, understood and practiced by all specialty contractors. Our country is one of the most litigious in the world and, sadly, this certainly has found a home in the construction industry.

Let’s first address safety in your organization. While this article will not fulfill the entire educationalsafety first needs for a total safety program at your company, there are some key learning points that have been successfully implemented by many contractors that can bring value to your company.

Safety First

I don’t know what else to call this first point other than safety must be first everywhere possible in your company. I know of no contractor that will admit to NOT believing in the importance of safety — but once again it is in the actions and behavior of our most senior of leaders, including the owner, that sells safety first.

Therefore, what can you do to demonstrate in action and behavior that safety really is first? Consider a few suggestions below:

  • Personally invest in safety education… be the “guinea pig” for all new training education.
  • Lead safety training workshops personally
  • Make safety-related questions part of your daily discussions with field leaders, office workers, field workers, etc.
  • Personally investigate when there’s been a safety failure and be the first, or second, to recognize great safety results
  • Publicize Safety First via signage, posters, proposals, contracts, “graffiti” on company trucks, business cards, and all marketing pieces and Internet outlets

Resource Safety First

The resourcing of Safety First is to consider all literature, tools and equipment that should be reviewed, updated and replaced as needed as they relate to safety. Again, some quick highlights:

  • Commit a budget amount each year to inspect, replace and maintain all equipment, vehicles and power tools
  • Inventory your hand tools and consider what needs “sharpening” and what needs to be replaced.
  • Make sure your educational materials are clear in their intent to teach safe practices
  • Use clear and visible signage in your shop, yard and especially on each jobsite
  • Create informative “5-S Maps” that indicate where everything is kept on trucks, trailers, your shop and yard. The 5-S Map can contribute to faster inventory management and keep workers from pushing and pulling tools, cords, shovels, etc. to find what they are looking for
  • Keep an ample supply of barricades, flare tape, emergency kits, safety vests, tie-offs and just about every other “safety tool” that can help prevent any issues

Teach Safety First

Teach Safety First most certainly includes actual training workshops and live demonstrations of safe working processes and techniques, but it also affects your company in a few other areas. Consider:

  • Purchase of hats and shirts that have a clear reference to safety
  • Commit 3 to 5 minutes of stretching for all workers and leaders…office and field employees.
  • Require part of your “pre-con” start-up to address every safety “risk” potential on the new job
  • Take a brief “safety debrief” after each project from the hourly workers involved with job. If you perform more than one project in a short time span, review multiple projects once a week
  • Incorporate one positive safety story a week in meetings or share a learning lesson from another company who may have had a safety problem

Recognize and reward Safety First

Not much secret here, and many contractors are practicing some degree of this suggestion. If you do not or are in need of upgrading your company’s approach, consider a few of the following:

  • Recognize all new milestones of “incident free” goals and the people who are making it happen
  • Engage rewards to include company logoed giveaways such as shirts, hats, gloves, etc.
  • For exceptional safety performance and results look to some cash rewards or tickets, coupons, dinner cards, etc. Be careful here due to the taxing of such items but provide some form of “hard” proof that safety is saving you money
  • Engage proven workers to conduct the safety training for newly hired employees
  • Consider appointing a “Safety Coordinator” for each work crew and your office. The “SC” isn’t the safety czar but instead another outlet for employees to go to with questions, resource needs, etc. The SC for my old crews used to also assist our foremen on scouting out potentially unsafe work areas, inspecting equipment and tools needing repair, and assisting in placing orders for new safety equipment

Accountable Safety First

All of the previous suggestions and examples are for naught if we do not practice what we preach and hold people and processes accountable. Now for some tough love, consider:

  • Hold leaders accountable to invoke safety discussions before every project and at the beginning of each new day
  • When leaders do not practice the previous, coach, counsel and discipline as needed
  • Clearly educate your workers on safe practice, and when they do not comply with such practice, coach, counsel and discipline as needed
  • When “repeat offenders” continue to be non-compliant about following safety rules and practices counsel, document and fire! Do not allow such people to stay with your company. It sends the very bad message that Safety First is really “Safety Whenever it’s Convenient.”
    Make Safety First mandatory for every employee. Absolutely no favoritism!

Our industry has indeed come a long way in the area of safety, but our insurance rates continue to be a bit high compared to other physically involved industries. Accidents happen, but there is a tremendous amount of prevention that we really can do

Prevention is the key word here. Prevention in the form of educating, reminding, and having needed safety resources and safe working equipment and tools can reduce your risk ten-fold. But, we need to clearly communicate safety and be consistent in practicing what we are preaching about safety.

 

This article originally appeared on ForConstructionPros.com .

Features Tell – Benefits Sell

When going out on a sales call, it is vital to understand the difference between “features” and “benefits”. Of primary importance is to remember the phrase, “features tell; benefits sell.” There is a technique in selling that we at Pinnacle Development Group have used personally for more than twenty-five years to very good results to assist in making this distinction.  It is based on three components. The three components are:

Feature

Features, or facts, represent what the actual characteristics are.  Features might represent the chemical make-up of a material used in the construction project, the rock size used in asphalt, or perhaps even the multiple step process followed by a work crew.

Benefit

Benefits sell you and your company, and represent what advantage, savings, or “profit,” that a customer will receive from the feature or features purchased.

Transition

A transition is a simple word or phrase that smoothly transfers the technical aspects of the feature to a benefit in the eyes of the customer.

I refer to the three components as having a FTP.  Thus, for every feature about my company, the product that we use, the equipment that we operate, or the process that we follow when completing work, I must transition the featured aspect into a believable benefit to the customer.  If I fail in doing this I risk losing the trust, interest, and worse yet, any future business.

benefits sell

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Now, let me demonstrate the FTP technique using a hypothetical situation

Feature 

Premier Sealer has 10% more of a chemical bonding agent than do most of the other available blends of sealer.

Transition

Which means that we can offer you…

Benefit

A written three year guarantee on the product as it will provide a longer life for your parking lot.

Many sales professionals within the construction industry have undoubtedly recognized features or facts about what they sell.  It is also critically important to realize that customers rarely buy features.  Instead, they wish to purchase the benefits provided by a product or service.  Until the connection between feature and benefit is made in the mind of the customer they will refuse to make a buying decision

The transition in the FTP technique is the most important part of the “triad.”  This may sound strange to many contractors since knowing the products and services is so important.  Again, all the knowledge in the industry will not help your sales unless you have a method to plant the features of your materials, your team, and your equipment efficiency into the head of a customer and leave them agreeing with the great benefit that will be experienced, and enjoyed!

Assuming that many readers of this article already have a stable of knowledge, or are building one, of their company’s features and the benefits that can be realized by buying the features, let provide a few more examples of transitions that you may want to try.

  • …which provides you with…
  • …so you will receive more…
  • …this allows you greater…
  • …enabling you to spend less money…

Remember … features tell, but benefits sell!

Features really do just tell us about our products, services, and company.  Benefits sell and are what our customers want to experience.  Tying the two together may very well be your biggest improvement opportunity to increase your own sales success and the increased business for your company.

Why You Need Workforce Training

Today’s construction leaders are consistently on the go, causing limited time for effective workforce training. From time in the office, to meeting with clients, and time spent in the field, the demands of the industry limit the time employees have to learn and grow professionally. That’s why we’ve created a new tool: The 2 Minute Drill. The 2 Minute Drill is based off the premise that everyone has 2 minutes!

The 2 Minute Drill video series brings the professional consulting services of Brad Humphrey and Pinnacle Development Group directly to you. The training and development series has topics for all levels of your organization, from business owners to front-line employees. We cover everything from running your business to more efficiently motivating your employees.

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Individual Costs

  • Subscribe for $39.99 a month to watch all of the 2 Minute Drill videos (65+ and counting)
  • Rent individual videos for $1.99
  • Purchase individual videos for $5.99

Company Categories and Cost

  • 10-100 employees – $200/month or $2,250 annually
  • 101-200 employees – $325/month or $3,600 annually
  • 201-300+ employees – $500/month $5,750 annually

To see the different categories currently available with the 2 Minute Drill, click here

Let us work with you and your company to create custom video series to benefit your employees. We provide a series of easy 2 minute training and development videos that your employees can watch at their leisure – either on the computer in the office or on their mobile devices on the road and in the field. We want to empower you to provide an additional outlet to reach your employees. With more being expected of this industry in terms of time and 2 Minute Drilldelivery, construction employees need as many options as possible for their professional development.

The 2 Minute Drill can do just that – developing your employees and instilling the company’s values, all in in a simple format for anyone in your company. For contact and cost information, please download our sales sheet.

Contact:

Colby Humphrey

Colby@pinnacleccid.com

913-904-4970