Category Archives: Employee Development

Engaging Millennials in Construction

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A new study has come out from Gallup, and it has big implications for employers throughout the US and how they interact with the millennial generation.

Millennials desire to be engaged with their job. This goes beyond the standard “9 to 5” mentality – this generation wants to be engaged and passionate about what they do. Despite this, only 29% of millennials int he study reported being engaged at their current job.

Additionally, this new generation of workers is not interested in following

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Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

policies and procedures unless they understand the reasoning behind them. If they do not agree with how decisions are being made, they are also more likely than not to address their concerns with they supervisors. Linked with this, millennials want more than a professional relationship with their employers. They want to their boss to “care about them as an employee and a person.”

Lastly, millennials want opportunities to personal growth on the job. The Gallup study found that 87% of millennials view “professional development or career growth opportunities” as being very important to them in their jobs.

Engaging Millennials in Construction

These findings have implications for the construction industry. For starters, employers may consider implementing the following:

  • Providing a thorough explanation of company policies and procedures during the on-boarding process. If it takes your employees six months to fully understand why your company operates the way it does, your probably going to lose younger workers at a higher rate.
  • Holding formal and informal job reviews with your employees. Millennials want to know how they are doing on the job, so continue with performance reviews. However, you may want to schedule informal review sessions with your younger workers to engage them on how their life is outside of work.
  • Providing regular opportunities for professional development. Send your employees to conferences, enroll them in continuing education, bring in outside coaches – there is no set formula, but take the steps necessary to engage your employees and provide opportunities for them to advance in their careers

Millennials are challenging employers across the US, and the construction industry is no exception. However, you can take simple steps such as these to bring the most out of this generation and improve your company for years to come. 

Colby Humphrey is the Director of Pinnacle Development Group’s Center for Competitive Intelligence and Development. He focuses on marketing and market research. For more information on engaging millennial in construction, contact him at colby@pinnacleccid.com.

Source: What Millennials Want From Work and Life

Employee Development, , , ,

Features Tell – Benefits Sell

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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

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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.

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Why You Need Workforce Training

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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

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