Field Manager’s
Survival School
Be the great manager that field workers
brag about working for!!
Making the transition from service technician to service manager or installer to installation manager is difficult...in fact, most people don't succeed and end up as a service technician or installer again...at another company.
The irony is that most technicians and installers want to be managers.
Then why don't most succeed?
Because the skills needed to be a successful service technician/installer are not the same as those skills needed to be a successful manager.
Other companies hire an "experienced" manager and find he can't manage your department.
This is very expensive in terms of morale, training costs, and continuity in a service department.
A question you should ask your techs/installers
who want to become managers:
Are you willing to answer your cell phone 24/7 when one of
your team members needs help on a weekend or in the evening?
If that person is not willing to answer his or her cell phone 24/7, that person won’t make it as a manager in your company.
Field Manager's Survival School was developed to teach the skills necessary to become and continue to be a good manager.
This two day, information packed class introduces you to new ways to approaching the management of your department.
You won't be bored sitting in class.
Each day vital customer service, financial, and technician management issues are discussed in an interactive setting.
By the end of the two days you will have an understanding of pricing, handling service technician praise and problems, as well as making sure that customers are kept happy.
For instance, did you know that....
Overtime to a 20 year old team member is usually considered punishment...
Overtime to a 50 year old team member is usually a reward?
Field Manager's Survival School teaches you how to supervise these very different types of people. You'll learn how to ensure that they are both productive members of your team.
This is a HOW TO DO Program, not a WHAT TO DO PROGRAM.
If you've ever sat in a class and been told what to do and then sent on your way....I promise you'll experience something different in this class.
Exercises, homework, and role playing different scenarios in a non-threatening environment is a part of each day's activities.
Role play prepares you for typical situations that you are likely to encounter so you can learn to react the right way before the actual situation occurs.
Homework is assigned.
It includes reading and exercises that reinforce what was learned in class.
There is homework to bring to class too!
So that you can be fully prepared to participate, you will receive two books,
The Miracle Manager, and The Ugly Truth about Managing People, before class.
You’ll also receive a personality profile which we will cover during the two days – you’ll discover the best way to communicate with your team members based on their personality styles.
Here’s What Past Participants Have Said:
Those in attendance had between one month and twelve years experience
as a manager and managed between two and twenty-seven field employees.
“I think you put everything on a level to which anyone can understand, (even new managers). I also feel that the owners in the class got things from this class. I would recommend this class to anyone who is serious about their job as a manager. I also think it puts your job on a new level of understanding things a whole lot better! This class is by far the best I’ve attended on the lines of teaching and training in this industry.”
“Thank you for all the information you packed into my head. It was the only seminar I have ever attended that was everything and more than it said it would be. I came away with many ideas and solid facts.”
“This was an excellent opportunity to better learn the methods and moods of people we employ and/or the people who employ us. It was very fun and informative and flowed very smoothly and fast. I highly recommend it to anyone in a service manager position.”
“I can appreciate the School because it offers realistic issues and problems that are faced by today’s HVAC managers. By role playing and the homework and daily class assignments it left me with a since of confidence that I can improve my department both in profitability and in morale.”
“Don’t take things for granted. We all have strong areas and weak areas. This course has helped me see how to use the strong areas better and also what I need to do to improve on the areas that are not as strong as desired”.
“Thank you for opening my eyes to the human side of this business. A lot of times we don’t look at things we don’t understand, now I feel confident enough that I can look at my employees and understand what and why they do something.”
“A class that will benefit not only your service manager but your service department. The class was presented in such a way that gives much more insight than reading a book or manual could ever give.”
“After 12 years in the HVAC business this was by far the most informative and best delivered training that I have received. This is information that I can take with me to work and immediately put to use to improve our department and our company.”
Who is Ruth King?
Field Manager’s Survival School is led by Ruth King who has, for the past 30+ years, helped contractors grow and manage their service departments as well as increase contractors’ total company sales and profitability. She is also the founder of HVACChannel.tv, Internet television for HVAC contractors with technical, sales, financial, and operations programs specifically designed and produced for contractors and their employees.
She is especially proud of two partners who bought their business from their former boss when it was about $750,000 in revenues. With Ruth’s help, the business grew to about $10 million in revenues and the company was sold for $9 million in cash.
Ruth holds an MBA in Finance from Georgia State University and Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a Class II HVAC contractor’s license (inactive) in Georgia. Ruth has written many manuals and books including the popular Operations Manuals: Best Practices for Running a Profitable Service and Replacement company.
Ruth hosts the popular podcast, Contractor Cents as well as a weekly ezine.
Her latest book, 101 Dumb Financial Mistakes Business Owners Make and How to Avoid Them will be published in Spring, 2023. Her books, The Ugly Truth about Cash and The Courage to be Profitable (#1 best seller), joined Stephen Covey, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie and 33 other esteemed authors in the top 37 books start up businesses (and other business owners) should read. These books are preceded by three other award-winning books, Profit or Wealth?, The Ugly Truth about Small Business, and The Ugly Truth about Managing People.
She contributes a monthly financial column to HVACR Business as well as columns Today’s AC, and many other regional publications. Ruth is a monthly contributor to the nationally syndicated radio show, The Price of Business. She has also been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the Big Biz Show, and many regional and local radio programs.
Ruth is a reality trainer: delivering practical, down to earth, thought provoking information that provides attendees with ideas that inspire them and help them earn more profits.
The Agenda:
I. Introduction to Field Manager's Survival School. What you should take away from this experience.
II. Congratulations! You're a Manager...What does that really mean?
III. Understanding pricing issues. Service rates, parts pricing, service agreements.
IV. What is overhead?
V. Customer Service...it has to be win-win.
VI. Your Score Card...Making your department profitable...Analyzing the department's financial statement.
VII. Stress Control. You are in a 24 hour per day business. How to prioritize your personal and business life. They can work together.
VIII. Dealing with irate customers. How to defuse their anger. When should you fire customers?
IX. Hiring field employees. Where to look. How to hire someone who wants more than your highest paid employee earns. The interview process. The offer. Probationary period evaluations.
X. Tracking performance. Positive reinforcement. Performance appraisals.
XI. Handling your career readjustment program - firing.
XII. Handling management issued policies. Employee morale. Soliciting feedback from your team.
XIII. Setting goals for the department. How to create contests that work.
XIV. Meetings. Preparation. The agenda. Business meetings. Training meetings. Reviewing callbacks. Ending on a positive note.
XV. Customer contact. Satisfaction surveys. Collections calls.
XVI. Keeping your upper management informed.
XVII. Review. Setting goals for return to the office. Evaluation.
This school is for new and experienced managers who want to increase their effectiveness in their roles.
Why You Should Attend?
Develop the tools necessary to improve your skills and performance as a manager.
Learn proper pricing and budgeting.
Know why you can be busy and still lose money.
Make it easier to find, hire, and keep good field personnel.
Discover how to operate a profitable department. Learn to identify minor issues and resolve them before they become major crises.
Learn how to deal with different personality styles and values styles.
Practice potential hiring, evaluating, and firing situations you are likely to encounter so that you can learn the proper response before the actual situation occurs.
Encounter real life situations in a class room setting which gives you ways to handle them properly before you encounter them on the job.
Homework is assigned to reinforce what was learned in class.
Practice techniques that turn irate customers into satisfied customers.
Receive practical suggestions that help you increase your effectiveness and decrease your stress.
Increase your chances of becoming the great manager that field personnel brag about working for.
On site follow up visits are available to reinforce and adapt what you learned in your own day-to-day environment
When is Field Manager's
Survival School?
February 16-17, 2023 in Dallas, TX
Enroll Today - Save Money
Enrollment in class is normally $1,997.
Special pricing of $1,797 per person is
available until December 5, 2022.
Save $200
If, after the first day, you think this program is not valuable to you, let us know and we will cheerfully refund your money. No hassles!
I look forward to helping you increase the profitability of your field departments and being the manager that field personnel brag about working for.
Ruth King
