Convincing Customers

In a highly saturated market, presenting a competitive point of difference, such as offering consumers the best value for their money, is crucial. While it’s easy to be of the belief that your product is far better than your competitors’, being able to explain to potential customers the reason that they are paying top dollar for your service may prove difficult. 

“Don’t just price up a job, chuck your price in the ring and hope for the best. That’s not the right way to do it,” says Small Fish’ Jon Dale. 

Dale refers to the common perception that people think, “oh, yeh the same stuff, only cheaper.”

However, Dale argues, “it might be cheaper, but generally speaking (particularly in your industry), if somebody’s considerably cheaper than you, something’s different along the way. They’re going to use cheaper materials and components.”

Often, emphasising the value you offer is in response to another business undercutting you or providing a similar service at a much lower price. 

While customers typically look for the cheapest price, according to Dale, it’s obvious that you’re taking short cuts if you charge too little. 

“You compromise quality,” he says. “ [The customers] bought cheap and sh*tty cabinets rather than good quality ones, and in the end, the customers are going to pay for that. [Cheaper competitors] cut corners on the job when they’re trying to work to a price.”

While lower prices might be one way to attract business, when you ultimately provide a poor product, customers aren’t likely to return.

Further, “undercutting means lower margins for the electrical contractor…if you’ve got low margins and not much cash around, it’s very easy for you to go under,” Dale continues. 

Dale argues the ownership is on you to educate potential customers on what a good product should cost and that they get what they pay for. Not only will the competitor who is undercutting your business skip steps, there’s also the risk that they may go under and not complete the job — it’s your responsibility to point out that small — margin tradies are unreliable and your project is at risk. 

This is all part of your marketing and sales strategy – showing the value you offer, the attention to detail in your work and the risk of going with your competitors.

Looking to start your own business? Head to Qualify Me! to see how a tradesman coach like Dale can give you the keys to success.

Everyone wants to run a big booming business, dominate the industry and see their name on the cover of Forbes. But most businesses, not just in the trade sector, start from humble beginnings - think tech giants such as Amazon whose founders built the business from the ground up – starting with a bit of spare change, and working out of a quiet corner in their garage. 

While you might have been fortunate enough to start your business from a small office space, as opposed to a garage, chances are you’ve found yourself with the same big ideas.

So what happens when your small team starts to expand? No doubt you’ve found yourself in limbo – you’re neither Apple nor a lemonade stand – so how do you establish where you sit on the scale of small to big business?

First, it’s important to differentiate between the two.

“When you’re small, there’s only a few of you, overheads are very low, you probably work from home, you can all talk to each other all the time, systems aren’t as necessary because you’re all there, helping each other out,” says Small Fish’ Jon Dale. 

“You can cope, you can manage the workload and the stress load, and the number of things you need to think about.”

Meanwhile, according to Dale, big businesses require a more systematic approach, with a higher level of staff. Dale also emphasises the importance of having a a number of well-oiled machines operating:

 Marketing machine
 Sales machine
 Operations machine
 Back office machine
 The people running those machines
 You overseeing

In that transition period from start-up to big player, there’s a stressful period where you don’t quite have the systems in place to manage the change in workload. 

“In between, when those machines aren’t quite built, but it’s too big, and there’s too much going on for you to be holding it all in your head, it’s a bit hard to work,” Dale continues.

“So that transition from small to big goes through a difficult patch at the period of stress and work and pressure when you really need to push on through to the beautiful other side and it’s hard work.”

When any business expands, you’re ultimately going to face a period of growth that’s hard to keep up with. However, maintaining momentum will help you shift from ambitious start-up to booming business. 

Looking to start your own business? Head to Qualify Me! to see how a tradesman coach like Dale can give you the keys to success.

Commercial Cooking : There are only so many cooking shows you can watch before you start to imagine how you’d fair with your own commercial kitchen. Sure, it’s fast paced, and you’ll be sweating from both steam and stress, but the thought of having a signature dish and a dining set up to match is enough to light the fire in your belly. 

However, just because you’ve perfected scrambled eggs in your own home, it doesn’t mean you’re prepared for serving hundreds of customers. Instead you need to understand the ins and outs of commercial cooking to truly be able to cater in a professional setting. 

What is commercial cooking?

Sure, cooking for your family might feel like you’re catering for the masses, but that doesn’t quite qualify as a large restaurant.

Commercial cooking is the preparing of food for the greater public. Typically, it also includes using equipment that produces grease – think deep fryers and large grills. 

Commercial cooking isn’t just understanding how to cook but also the safety protocols that go along with providing food for the general public. 

What qualifications do you need for commercial cooking?

While for the most part, serving Michelin-quality meals comes from years of experience, there is an element of theoretical knowledge involved as well. 

To be able to cook for large groups as well as providing a service, you need to become familiar with how commercial cooking works. 

The required courses are:

1) SIT30821 - Certificate III in Commercial Cookery

or

2) SIT40516 - Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery

Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery can be gained via a RPL certificate and is more advanced and for those looking to take on a leadership role such as managing a kitchen while Certificate III in Commercial Cookery gives you a basic yet sound knowledge of commercial cooking. 

A Cert IV in Commercial cookery takes approximately 18 months to complete while a Cert III is just over a year. 

Take the Qualify Me! self assessment now to see if your experience in the hospitality industry can get you on your way to a new career.

What are the tools and equipment used in commercial cooking?

Once you start dealing with bigger kitchens, more hungry diners and quicker cooking times, you can forget your usual pan on a stove setup. 

Instead, you’ll move on to cooking ranges, which have multiple functionalities, from frying to boiling, grilling to baking. Typically, you’ll also deal with 4 to 8 burners to help produce mass food for customers. The two standard types are restaurant ranges – less food volume and made for kitchens – or the heavy duty range – made for mass food production. 

Ovens in commercial kitchens are also slightly different. There are several styles of ovens, all serving a different purpose.  

Rack ovens are tall and made for a large volume of baked goods such as bread and pastries. A deck oven contains rotisseries or racks and is usually reserved for cooking meats. Meanwhile tunnel ovens are great for making pizzas. 

Instead of a barbeque, you’ll become accustomed to a griddle – flat plates mainly used for eggs, burgers and pancakes. 

Fryers are also a regular fixture, usually consisting of a basket to help lower the ingredients into heated oil.

Other regular kitchen staples make an appearance – from mixers, to cutting utensils, from cutlery to juicers. However, most are larger than what you’ve come to expect due to the bulk cooking needed. 

Thinking about a shift in career? Qualify Me! can help you use your existing knowledge and experience to fast-track a move to a different industry.

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Christmas give away: Interview with Shane Hall plumbing skills recognition client of Avalon

– winner of the Qualify Me! 2014 $10,000 Christmas Giveaway

[Interview Audio transcript]

Interviewer: James Choucair (Business Development Manager)

Interviewee: Shane Hall (Qualify Me! Certificate III in Plumbing client)

Location: Qualify Me! head office 70 Parramatta Rd, Croydon NSW 2132

Date/Time: 2pm on 23rd of December 2014

Tell us a bit about yourself?

“I grew up on the Northern Beaches and did my whole apprenticeship. I went to TAFE and did my certificate III & IV [in plumbing] but uhhh TAFE sort of stuffed me around and um you know I did all my exams failed one, and had to go back and do it again; and then I passed it but they didn’t put it back into the system. This is like 6 years ago. And like I went back to them and said bugger that I’m not going to go through all that trouble, so that’s when I came to Qualify Me!

How have you found the process of skills recognition at Qualify Me!?

Its been pretty good.

What was involved?

“As soon as I called up Ray, he sent me all the details and I came in a week later with my transcripts and all that and handed it in. A few weeks later I had a competency conversation and that’s it.

Did you have to collect photo evidence as well?

Oh yeah, photos and videos and all that, it’s all been handed in and everything else.

Great! Where are you going with this plumbing qualification?

So I want to start my own thing up next year think when I can.

Would you recommend our services?

Yeah hundred percent, easy as.

Would you encourage youngens to take up plumbing as a future career?

Oh definitely, I just like it being out and about not being stuck on the same job everyday and just being outdoors.

And the question we all want to ask, where is the 10k going?

It’s going to go straight into my savings for a house deposit. Its really hard at the moment [to save up] so this will go a long way in getting me on my feet.

Shane, thanks for your time today and congratulations once again on your win!

Thanks heaps guys.