Update time. Rollercoaster year is an understatement.
The Good:
Got an excellent Service Manager in that runs the process we want on Maintenance and Service calls. High potential he becomes the GM.
Fully integrated our management system (Service Titan) with his help and it is priced accurately for all jobs. This was a huge undertaking and if you don't have someone that really knows this system it can be a killer.
Acquired a shop north of us that has about 3K customers in the database.
Should finish the year with around 11% growth.
The Bad:
Parted ways with the seller of the acquisition at the end of September. He was very disorganized and highly emotional. Late night rambling email rants became ridiculous. He did not account for his time on many jobs and that did impact profitability to a small degree. Just would not accept our process and absolutely would not accept any responsibility on many issues we tried to resolve. Typical seller of a small business.
Educating the new customer based has been difficult. It is pretty rural (Sherman/Denison area) and seller would often times bill them after services. We collect at time of service. I'm not a lender.
Hired 2 absolute dudes for salesmen during one of the hottest summers in recent memory. This hurt and is impacting us more right now. The first was more of an account manager and placed little effort on outside leads and network building. I spent a lot of time coaching him, but some guys are hunters and some are gatherers. The second was placed in an involuntary hold a week after he started. We quickly found out he was drinking while on company time and in a company vehicle. He lasted less than 30 days and had over 30 opportunities for system change outs...Closed 1.
Profitable production is really tight right now. This is expected during this time of year and the schedule is full but jobs are slowing and sub crews are coming in asking for work. This tells me it is across the board and not just here.
Good times....good times.....