Friday Featured Client: T & N Appliance Repair

Reposted from What's Cooking Vol.1 No.1-Tom, of T & N Appliance Repair, has been a staple of the Grants Pass, OR community for more than 30 years. He's actively grooming his grandson Justin to take over the business. The entire family are avid stock car racing fans, and they enjoy watching Justin frequently race dirt tracks; it truly is a family affair. Justin feels the internet has been instrumental in helping his business grow by leaps and bounds. Utilizing the W.L. May Co Web page and Mobile Access on his smart phone, has enabled Justin to complete more jobs with increased efficiency, and has stated "W.L. May is the best tool in my tool bag".

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ASTI report

Wow!! What a day yesterday was.. We met several new "friends", and were able to visit with many old ones. It was cool visiting with Patty and Cody Husk from Cody's in Eagle ID, Justin Duby from T& N in Grants Pass, OR, David Schnelli from Glenwood Appliance in Eugene, OR, and Adam Butcher, one of the industry's future "rock stars" out of Cleveland, OH.

Todd attended a class called Business Efficiencies with Cutting Edge Technologies, presented by Adam Butcher. Adam outlines many of the ways he has made his business much more efficient and profitable. His ideas are truly "cutting edge". I was able to attend a class that outlined the many reasons a membership in USA is an investment in your future success that should be made; your return on that investment is limitless.

Finally the evening found Todd and I manning our booth and sharing our customer centered educational based philosophy. We realize that education, both technological training, and business concepts training, will take an Appliance Service Company to the next level of success..

We're excited to see what great things are in store for us today.

Post forwarded from Bradley Cantors Phone on location.

Tip for Thursday: Preconceived Notions

A few years ago the ASTI (Appliance Service Technical Institute) was being held, like this year, in Orlando. Being in Florida, our representatives Todd and Bradley expected warm weather-especially when compared to chilly and damp Portland in winter. As a result they packed a wardrobe that would have worked well for a sunny spring day. To their surprise, it was an extra cold week in Orlando and the weather here in Portland was warmer. As a result they spent the week shivering when they went outdoors. Why am I telling you this story? They could have been dressed for cool weather, as Portlanders they certainly had warm coats they could have taken. It was Florida. Florida is usually warm. Their preconceived notions were wrong.
If you do appliance repair for a living preconceived notions can take money right out of your pocket. For example, a lot of times I will hear a servicer saying, before consulting with the client, that their consumer likely won't have a job done because a pricey part was involved in the job. Yet time and again the consumer proves them wrong and has the job done. Other times a technician will assume that a part is no longer available because it is a piece for an older machine. This preconceived notion is also not always correct.
It is true that OFTEN Florida is warmer than Oregon. It is also true that OFTEN a pricey part will make a consumer consider replacement over repair or that an older machine may have a lot of discontinued parts. Experience can blind us into assuming that what is OFTEN true is what is ALWAYS true. So when you go to Florida take along a jacket. When you are looking at an expensive repair job offer your quote with confidence. And when you are dealing with an older appliance take the time to verify availability.
You might be surprised at the results if you can remove your preconceived notions and approach each service call with a positive attitude. Customers will surprise you - I promise. And like they like to say in the lottery ads-you can't win if you don't play!

Why Join USA?

Just got through a class conducted by Paul McDonald, past president of USA. Paul discussed the many reasons why a USA membership is or should be "one of your best tools" in your tool box. As members, you have access to an extensive library of service manuals and information, a Chat Line used to help with those tough situations you find yourself in, peer groups, and a whole host of other tools to assist you and your businesses' success. It truly is an investment in yourself and the future success of your business.

                                      Post forwarded from Bradley Cantors Phone on location.

Let the Show Begin

After all the preparation. After all the traveling. After all the excitement and anticipation, it's time to "let the show begin".. This mornings breakfast was highlighted by the Keynote Speaker, Dean Landers, past President of USA.. Dean encouraged everyone to really think about why they do what they do.. That only by knowing the answer can one fully reach their potential.. Once you do that, everyone around you "wins"; you, your family, employees, and your customers as well.. Why do you do what you do?

                                      Post forwarded from Bradley Cantors Phone on location.

Wednesday Web Tools: Where to find free images for your blog or Facebook

I recently read a blog post that left me a little concerned. The post was written by a "mommy blogger", who was sharing a cautionary tale. Her blog was a personal journal kind of site, not a for-profit business site. To keep her blog visually interesting, she liked to put some pictures on it to go with her writing. Sometimes she would use Google images to find pictures to use. Makes sense. Its easy, very searchable, and easy to download too. Then something went wrong. She got a letter from the attorney of a professional photographer. Now you might think that since she was just running a blog as a hobby that an apology and removal of the offending images would take care of the problem. It didn't. In the end, she ended up paying several hundred dollars to the photographer for the unauthorized use of the images.

Scary story. The reason I mention it is because this did not have to happen to her. She could have used pictures that she took herself. Unless she is as bad a photographer as I am. So what to do? Luckily, there are some inexpensive options out there. Even luckier, there are some free options too. Here are some of my favorites of those free options:

• Flickr Creative Commons-I think just about everyone on the internet knows what Flickr is. Any image on Flickr has the potential to be used, but make sure you have permission from the photographer to do so. Some photographers have already given you permission by way of a creative commons license. Make sure you read the license on the images page regarding its terms of use.
• Wikimedia Commons-This is a hit and miss option. Images are public domain that are used in Wikipedia. Some good stuff here although often more of a historical nature.
• Morgue File- I really like this site. They have lots of varied images available. The only catch is that images from here need to be modified if they are used.
• FreeDigitalPhotos.Net-Several thousand images are available from this site. You are freee to use the small size images but larger versions require payment.
• FreeMediaGOO.com-This site features an assortment of images, wallpapers and even some video clips. To be honest, I have not had the best success with their images matching my needs. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
• Photo Rogue-This site offers a twist from most stock photo sites. In addition to their library of stock images for use, you can request an image. Photographers that frequent the site MIGHT respond with images to match your request. Obviously, this would give you the opportunity to have some more unique images than might be available from some other sites. 
• stock.xchng VI-Over 100,000 images available here. The photographers set the terms, so read the fine print on an image you are interested in using.
• FreePhotosBank-This site does have some free images available, but my experience is that far more images listed on this site link to Dreamstime.com, which is a good site for inexpensive, but not free, stock images.
• Present Outlook-If you like the images with quotes like the kind we post on Motivation Mondays, then this site is for you. Lots if gorgeous photography with inspirational quotes. Oh and by the way, we make our own slides for Motivation Monday, so these will be different from the slides we have posted.

Tuesday Tips: Creating a mobile service library

Recently, the Appliance Samurai posted a great idea for service techs. It involves using a bit of tech to have a functional service library on the job site. You'll need an Amazon Kindle as well as some basic computer skills. His explanation can be found here-with video.