Change the plan if necessary
Because Abrams has such a focus on data, it allows him theopportunity to take action when the numbers aren’t adding up toexpectations.
One such case involved a patented product that Abrams thoughtconsumers would love. The product can monitor heating and airconditioning systems, which would allow the company to alert aconsumer before a problem occurred.
“We’ll be able to call them and tell them before they even have aproblem with their furnace and air conditioning, and they’ll neverexperience another day of discomfort,” he says.
“So, looking at it, we thought, ‘Wow, consumers are really goingto want this.’ And in an attempt to market it to the consumer, wefound there was no interest whatsoever.
“We were spending a lot of money on attempting to educate consumers on why this was so important for them. They were just tellingus, ‘I get it, but I don’t want it.’ That was something we could have keptknocking our heads against the wall on and saying, ‘Come on, youhave to understand this because we get it. We like it in our ownhomes.’ But the consumer just didn’t want it.”
The company had already spent $2 million marketing it, andAbrams contemplated spending another $1 million because hebelieved in the product so much. But ultimately, he had to stepback and realize the marketplace indicates a product’s success.
“Then I started doing the math on that, indicating that I would have$3 million invested in that initiative, and how long would it take meto get back my money?” he says. “I just said, ‘I’m a businesspersonand my real scoreboard is how much money I make.’ It’s not reallyabout, ‘Look at how brilliant I am with this idea.’ It’s how muchmoney I make, and that’s what stopped me.”
If you have exhausted all your avenues to market a certain product or service, and employees are telling you no one wants it, youneed to listen or risk wasting more time and money.
“It was easy for me to sit in my office and say, ‘But, here’s what itdoes’ and go out to the field and espouse the virtues of that particular product,” he says. “But, my field people were saying, ‘Mr.Abrams, I understand, but I gotta tell you, they are kicking me outof the house. They don’t want it.’ And, of course, I didn’t want to hear that. So, I was thinking, ‘You’re just not doing it right. Try itthis way; try it that way.’”
The decision was made more difficult because Abrams actuallyhad success selling the product when he would accompany technicians into homes.
“But I was vested to the bone in the product, and I’m not going toget that from a technician who has chosen a career to fix things forconsumers rather than sell the next new, great product to consumers,” he says.
Salespeople also attempted to sell the product, but Abrams hiredthe salespeople to sell new furnaces or air conditioners, not themonitor.
“So, we just didn’t really have the resources within our company inthat example to be able to do that, and it’s just recognizing that this isnot who we are,” Abrams says.
The first step in dealing with a failure is recognizing it and coming to terms with the fact that you won’t be successful 100 percentof the time.
That’s something Abrams learned from a mentor early in hiscareer.
The mentor told Abrams: “Management is very much like bettingon horses. If you went to the horse races every day of your life andbet on every single race and you ended up winning 51 percent oftime, you’d probably end up OK in life as a gambler. Business is alot like that. You have to make a lot of decisions, and you’re goingto make a lot of wrong ones, and you have to be able to acceptthat.”
HOW TO REACH: Clockwork Home Services Inc., (941) 366-9692 or www.clockworkhomeservices.com