2021_PWN_V3_No3_web

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contents FEATURES 4 A Taste of Humble Pie Learning to Learn from Your Professional Mistakes 12 Eyes Wide Open Five Pitfalls that Sabotage Your Team’s Potential 16 Let’s Roll Comparing non-pickup vehicle options for your pressure wash business 24 Reservoir Blogs Introducing the Top 12 Bloggers in the Pressure Wash Industry DEPARTMENTS 3 Editor’s Letter: Serving It Up Simply Serve it up like Waffle House and see what happens with your pressure wash business. 8 Industry Dirt: A look around the exterior cleaning world for news and notes of interest Vol. 3, No. 3, Summer 2021 Publisher: Jackson Vahaly Editor: Drew Ruble Design: Katy Barrett-Alley Pressure Wash News is published 4 times per year and is independently owned by Jackson Vahaly. All inquiries should be directed to: Pressure Wash News, 110 Childs Ln. Franklin, TN 37067 jacksonv@pressurewashnews.com Copyright © 2021 2 Dollar Enterprises/Pressure Wash News. All Rights Reserved. 2 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 3, NO. 3 | SUMMER 2021
EDITOR’S NOTE Serving it Up Simply Waffle House, the restaurant brand, keeps things simple. It keeps it consistent. The customer knows exactly what to expect. Journalist Sam Walker once penned an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “If You Can Manage a Waffle House, You Can Manage Anything.” In the article, he profiles a Harvard grad, Yehong Zhu, who worked for Amazon.com and Twitter, but who as a teenager in Georgia worked one summer at a Waffle House. The Atlanta-based chain of 24- hour budget diners (there are nearly 2,000 nationwide) does not advertise, rarely changes its menu, and only started accepting credit cards in 2006. The company boasts more than 40,000 employees and millions of customers. Walker estimated its annual revenue exceed $1 billion and reported that Waffle House says the share price of its employee-owned stock, which is based on its audited book value, has increased every year for the last 57 years. Not bad for keeping it simple… In the article, Zhu described her first manager, whom she said was always the first to arrive and one of the last to leave and who “seemed to have a handle on everything. She thrived under pressure, and pressure at Waffle House is constant.” In the article, Walker expresses amazement at how Waffle House consistently attracts good managers, all of whom are promoted from within. So, according to Walker, what does it take to be a successful Waffle House manager? “Speed, for one thing. To meet the goal of serving every customer in eight minutes or less, the wait staff doesn’t bother punching orders into a computer. They write them down in a shorthand code and read them aloud to cooks, who remember them by arranging condiments on empty platters. A face-up mustard packet signifies pork chops, for instance. “If the restaurant is busy or shortstaffed, managers are expected to dive in. The company’s training program teaches them how to analyze P&L statements, but it also prepares them to cook, clean and wait tables. “Once they tackle the pace the next challenge is endurance. Put simply, Waffle House never closes. If there’s a crisis in the dead of night, the manager inevitably gets a call.” Company president and CEO Walt Ehmer stated in a podcast once that doing the grunt work is good for business, helping managers earn the trust and respect of their teams while staying connected to the entire operation. Walker expresses equal amazement about how the chain places a surprisingly big emphasis on teambuilding. “To encourage retention, it offers managers bonuses for keeping turnover low. To discourage them from overworking people, it expects stores with high sales figures to have higher staffing costs, too.” Zhu told Walker that managers at Waffle House “generally don’t dump work on other people, take more credit than they deserve, or pretend to be nicer than they are just to get something,” adding “that doesn’t fly.” More than any other trait, though, Walker found that successful Waffle House managers are coached to focus on cultivating regulars. Zhu compared her experience as a Waffle House waitress to that of a therapist. “It’s about being prepared for anything and not having one answer key to deal with life,” she told Walker. “I think that’s helpful. It builds resilience and resourcefulness,” later adding that such traits “could help with the entitlement you see in office environments.” Entitlement doesn’t appear to be an issue at Waffle House headquarters. According to Walker, every executive, including Ehmer, wears the very same uniform as hourly employees, and will, if needed on a site visit, bus tables, take orders, and wash dishes. Here’s my challenge to you this quarter. Try mirroring the Waffle House mindset. Serve it up like Waffle House and see what happens with your pressure wash business. Drew Ruble drewruble@gmail.com Editor | PW News VOL. 3, NO. 3 | SUMMER 2021 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 3
Page 4 and 5: A Taste of Humble Pie Learning to L
Page 6 and 7: HUMBLE PIE cuse, or try to talk aro
Page 8 and 9: INDUSTRY DIRT A look around the cle
Page 10 and 11: INDUSTRY DIRT An Imminent Threat ..
Page 12 and 13: Eyes Wide Open Five Pitfalls that S
Page 14: eyes wide open 3. FOCUSING ONLY ON
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