5 entangled statements making it hard for electricians to predict growth

What emotion gets invoked the moment you're told you should start predicting your revenues?

As an electrician, you might find your accountant, business coach or other related strategist asking this if you're either operating at a loss, always missing targets or frequently presenting excuses on why you fail to surpass these hurdles.

Albeit, it may not be something you don't want to hear, you aren't the only electrician with a degree of frustration when these commands arise.

As much as you may want to ignore this reality when you address the matter head-on, you will encounter triumphs similar to Miller Electric Company, AJ Taylor and KG Electric Contractors.

So, if you resonate with any of the following statements, this article is for you. Should you have uttered any of them at some point in your working career, be sure to read on:

• I haven't yet employed the staff to match the requests I anticipate
• I am apprehensive about convincing new groups of people to use I
• I think an increased drive in advertising will be a bit too much to handle
• I reckon investing more funds into my business may not reap returns
• I believe that it will be overwhelming to take on an increased workload

Don't let the fact that you don't have a workforce in place today to dissuade your growth ambitions. Treat this issue as an army preparing to go for war. You don't ever send every soldier in your battalion to the front line, and the most potent force will have reserves who may never get called on. What this means in regards to your recruitment drive, is a tactic you should put into play today. It is one whereby you are continually advertising for roles which might not exist today, so you know the quality of experts on the market and have an arsenal of battle-ready workers in the wait.

Pacing yourself ahead of the wave is a strategically smart move since no actions on this scale come about via the click of a finger. As a forward-thinking owner of an electrical contracting business, how you go about growing your operation should always stay central in your mind. You should therefore also bear in mind the advancement of employees already in your organisation. If you know a desire exists in a devout worker to pick up skills (and who you are sure will help with your business's future viability), you should usher in steps to ensure that you can make it happen. A two-pronged approach which looks at internal and external resource will prepare you for the advances you envisage in years to come. Be sure to make this an ongoing process, that's modified and adapted as you discover how this is best suited to your organisation.

A series of practical web tools you can use to garner initial interest is a careers engine which promotes job positions directly on your website. In doing this, you should give a detailed and engaging description of the role under the spotlight, with an accompanying reference ID. Go on to mention the locations in which it's available, and feel free to duplicate and alter the description slightly if you intend to give the role a push in different areas where you know there is a demand for these services. Also add the type of worker you are looking for (e.g. permanent, temporary, apprentice, etc.), with years of experience, required education level and career bracket (e.g. entry-level, supervisor, director, etc.). Separate to displaying salaries, also look at promoting a hierarchy of roles to build teams and working units to handle specific tasks.

Well, being anxious about attracting customers who would instead go to other outfits to receive services you're more than capable of delivering will only cause you to stagnate. Long gone are the days that you could rely on a set group of customers to sustain you. Loyalty is paper-thin, and convenience rules the roost. Refrain from having the equation set that you are more fearful of offering than the buyer is to make a purchase. It's your responsibility to sell and handle objections and not sit in the hope of the next big deal spontaneously cropping up.

Whether speaking is your forté or not, or you tend to say too much or too little, what should support your claims is evidence. The best information you can therefore show is that which can be visited when you're not present. Think of all the compelling content you can write up, display as images or output in other exciting formats. The aim should be for the conversation to continue through the resources you share, accompanied by controlled elements of the human touch. If a customer feels more clued up on their needs, you'll receive reasonable compensation for your efforts. For this reason, look to enlighten your prospects as much as possible.

Multiple forms of content work in this regard, and if you can create campaigns which encompass them all you'll be on to a winner. It is essential to recognise that every buyer is different, so what might persuade one to use you could differ from another. In picking up on particular types of information which work well in this regard, look to making use of sales-led collateral. When we say this, we refer to materials such as checklists, infographics, whitepapers, eBooks, lookbooks, guides, etc. The reason we advocate their use is the purpose they serve.  As far as capturing leads in the way they're accessed, you also give an extra layer of confidence to purchasers in the valley of indecision.

Are the promotional mechanisms you have in place today, giving you the wins that you deserve? Whichever answer you convey to this issue, the only way in which you can improve is to dedicate more energy to the same, or alternative methods that will accompany your expansion. You should ask if it's a case of you wanting more of the same and what does that look like based on where you are right now. Let's say you want to attract a new demographic, market or work in a different region, does the strategy you have at the moment allow you to be as effective as you've been to date. The answer is probably not, because there'll be some intricacies with which you'll need to get familiarised in each of these instances.

With a desire to increase your presence and the associated monies linked to this, you'll need to invest in tools, platforms, and stationary objects that will heighten your exposure. Ideally, you'll want to amplify the message of who you are and what you're about, so it rings clear in the profile of users who you'll love to be advocates of all things fabulous about your brand. Albeit a concern for you as an electrician that it might appear things are moving too fast, with this approach you can be as hands-on or hands-off as you'd like. Technology and specialists can handle elements of this work, as well as the use of your most vital asset, the representatives of your business.

The discipline that this point sits comfortably in is traffic generation. It is the desire to be observed by more potential customers. When looking at how this gets done, you need to review the number of times you interact with and get this user base engaged. If you want them to follow you like an avid sports fan, then you need to produce content regularly to the point they're near enough sitting in waiting for the show to start. Begin with a blended plan of action which includes data points that you are comfortable promoting. Whatever you commit to, don't ever stray from your chosen content strategy, and as it brings in results and adjust the frequency with which you make releases.

A blunt perspective one could adopt here is why should anyone invest their hard-earned penny into using you if you're reluctant to do the same for yourself. If your expectation is for someone to take, you should be happy to give (something worthwhile grabbing). Presentation is everything, and it would be difficult for anyone to take you seriously if they find it hard to grasp what you're about at first glance. It would be best if you looked to making first impressions be the lasting one, and then ensuring all subsequent touchpoints are of equal measure.

Another way of viewing this is that you can promote the activities that mean the most to you. It will increasingly get you found what you want to do, reducing the attention on areas that need finetuning. It is advantageous to play to your strengths, so take time to analyse what these are and who within your workforce (and network of partners) can best deliver on these likes. Here is where it would be wise to conduct a SWOT analysis to know where threats might exist. They may present themselves through the combining of services (some of which you know you underperform in) or presumed changes that might be put into effect by law or a changing environment.

It's crucial to register that not all investments need to be monetary. Although you will attribute cost against your time, the low-hanging fruit which exists for resolving this challenge in part sits with your service and solutions pages. With services, desist from listing all that you provide on a single page. Ensure each specialism has its page (unique) so that it gets stumbled upon in its own right. This permits you to build the most robust pitch around why a prospective buyer requires this item. Similarly, the same principle applies to your solutions pages, which serve the purpose of detailing the different niches you are pursuing.

It is better to have that not had at all. What you want is to be acknowledged as being capable of meeting the requirements of various individuals and groups needing your expertise. The reason you may have entered the sector you operate in might not have been grand, but adopt the mindset of taking over the world even if it's not in your immediate, foreseeable or desired plans. It would help if you used the exercises that bring you more custom to highlight which skillsets you'll need to sure-up moving forward.

What you should keep in mind as more work comes in is how different projects get allocated and whom to delegate specific assignments. Think about ushering in a culture where your intent gets communicated innovatively, using staff and other types of correspondence to transmit your message. Remember, a transformation won't occur overnight, so move one step at a time, continuously monitoring what can be done better and adding these findings to your enhancement plans. At this stage, don't skip setting yourself targets, deadlines and projections, but be realistic in the levels you set yourself. You ideally want to avoid overpromising and underdelivering whereby you're not hitting your goals.

If your interest is in attracting more work, you have to make the process by which enquiries get made as simple as possible. Concerning your website, you want a unique telephone number displayed that reflects a business (i.e. an identifiable landline number if it assumes a different format from a cellular line in your locale). Alongside this, if someone is accessing your website through their mobile device, you should make it possible that when your number gets pressed, it goes through to your mobile phone dialer.

Finally, make sure you use dynamic forms that have imagery and clickable tickboxes and calculators (where applicable). They are easy for viewers to use, and only have them requesting products/services you provide. This, therefore, prevents from going off on a tangent, typing inadequate amounts of detail about their needs. What you want are sales-qualified leads which you have pinpointed discussions with based on their demands.

Now that you've seen some inventive methods for raking in extra business, which will you make a priority? We're confident any of our selections will contribute to your progress.

If you've already started enacting our advice or a looking to from this moment henceforth, then shoot down to our comments section below to let us know how you're getting on.

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