Steve Phillips: Magical Things can Happen
Intro:
Steve Phillips, Chief Operating Officer at Southern Elevator based in Greensboro, NC. Steve started his career outside of the elevator industry, gaining knowledge and experience in operations, from the military, NASCAR, emergency services and management for over 20 years. When Steve started at Southern, he found that the management skills and knowledge he had acquired elsewhere were perfectly transferrable to the elevator industry. Steve has learned a lot since starting and plans to retire from this industry. He has learned to love the elevators and is excited to continue to grow and innovate.
Summary:
Steve Phillips, COO of Southern Elevator, discusses his transition from the military and NASCAR to the elevator industry, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and respect. He highlights the challenges of adapting to the industry’s unique culture and the necessity of understanding union agreements. Phillips shares his approach to management, focusing on crisis management, respectful communication, and fostering a culture of professionalism. He advocates for hiring individuals with strong leadership skills over those with elevator experience. Phillips also stresses the importance of balancing service with technology to ensure long-term sustainability and customer satisfaction.
Transcript:
Steve Phillips 0:00
When you put it all together, it’s one of the most magical things to see happen. And I feel like in this industry, there are great people in this industry, and I’m very surprised about how much of a brotherhood it really was, like the fire department, like the military, like the EMS together. When you have a team of mechanics working with a team in the office, and they’re working towards the same goal, and they all understand they’re working for something bigger than just I collect a paycheck, or I’m going to get mine, or whatever that saying is, and you start seeing the numbers come together, and it’s it’s effortless. Nobody’s getting beat up, nobody’s being yelled at. They’re just coming together because we’re just working as a team, and we’re having one on ones, when somebody’s struggling and you’re lifting them up instead of beating them down. And I’m not saying it’s always perfect. There’s some people that don’t fit this model, but what I’m saying is, when you have the majority of those people just coming together and not realizing what you’re doing and the culture that you create, and then you hit those numbers, and they don’t, they can’t even express to you how they got there, that’s the magic.
Matthew Allred 1:15
Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred group. I am your host. Matt Allred in this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry. To inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers. Today, our guest is Steve Phillips, Chief Operating Officer at Southern Elevator based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Steve started his career outside of the elevator industry, gaining knowledge and experience in operations from the military, NASCAR, emergency services, and management for over 20 years. When Steve started at Southern he found that the management skills and knowledge he had acquired elsewhere were perfectly transferable to the elevator industry. Steve has learned a lot since starting and plans to retire from the industry. He has learned to love elevators and is excited to continue to grow and innovate. Steve, welcome to the show.
Steve Phillips 2:15
Well, thank you. It’s a pleasure.Glad to be part of it.
Matthew Allred 2:18
Thank you. Yeah, I’m excited. It was, it was good to meet you the spring conference down in Florida and be able to get to talk a little bit more. And so one of the things I really want to focus on was the fact that you’ve joined the industry from from outside the industry. And I’m just curious what, what is it like joining the elevator industry? Having not really been exposed to it. You didn’t grow up in it. Your grandpa and dad weren’t, weren’t part of it. What’s that like?
Steve Phillips 2:46
Well, it’s been the most challenging part of my career to this date. And I was in the military, and I went through basic training. So I would say, other than basic training, this was probably the second most challenging career. Management is management, and I think if you have good management practices, you can work in any industry. But what I didn’t realize about this industry, it’s a very unique industry, and there are many, many different ways to do the same thing over and over again, and you’re dealing with a lot of different vendors, and you’re dealing with a lot of different cultures. And it was I tell everybody who comes to work for us that it takes nine months to feel comfortable, and I’m usually one that gets something very quickly. So I found it exhilarating that I could actually be challenged like that. I actually enjoyed the challenge. So again, we’ve put better processes. I don’t think the nine months is a a big learning curve like mine. When I got here, there was no training program. It was basically fire from day one. And then realized that I had to own everything and fix everything and kind of correct things that I saw that I think made us more efficient. And so I I, I found it very challenging, and I wasn’t scared to take the job. I but I miss I misread how hard it was going to be, and I’m actually grateful for that. So glad
Matthew Allred 4:11
when you saidyou were looking for a challenge and it or rather, that it was exhilarating. Were you looking for the challenge? A challenge at the time?
Steve Phillips 4:17
Yeah. So I was with AAA for 22 years, and then my job got eliminated. I went down to Florida and was excelling there, but wasn’t really the fit. I had to come back to North Carolina, and I bounced around a while from job to job, trying to find my next home. And I was what I found is my talents were welcome to be they wanted to hire my talents, but they didn’t really want me to use my talents at the jobs that I jobs that I was in. So I didn’t feel
Matthew Allred 4:44
Explain that a little bit more dig dig into that. I mean, when you say they didn’t want me to use them. What did that mean?
Steve Phillips 4:49
So I work for a small like Mom and Pop Door Company, and they wanted me to come in and be the the manager, but really what they wanted me to be was their Yes man, and they didn’t want me to manage anybody. They kind of just wanted. Uh, to tell me something, and then I had to tell the people below me something, and it was the same verbiage, and there was no real management. And I was actually getting worried that I was losing my skill set. Um, so when I was looking for this career, um, I wasn’t unhappy, and I was making, you know, good money, good income that I wanted to but I wasn’t being challenged. And so I was really starting to question whether this is the right fit for me, because if I can’t use my skill set, my management, my leadership skill set, they could have had anybody do this, and it was just wasn’t fulfilling. I was I was going to work every day, and wasn’t unhappy, but wasn’t happy. Let’s put it that way.
Matthew Allred 5:38
So how did that affect the interview process, or, you know, like you say, kind of coming to this
Steve Phillips 5:46
well, it was the most honest interview I’ve ever done, because I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t in a position where I was really wanting the job. I wasn’t really trying to get the job. Or I wasn’t I was just entertaining. What would a new career look like? I was trying to find a home. What did I want?
Matthew Allred 6:02
not afraid to tell the truth, right?
Steve Phillips 6:04
I mean, actually, the funny part is, is when I left the interview, I told my wife I either really bombed this or I’m going to have an offer. And he says, What do you mean? I said I was very candid in the interview and wasn’t. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid to talk about me. I was one that never bragged. Bragged about what I did, or I never sold myself very well. I always just knew I could do it, but I didn’t feel like I had to be my own cheerleader. And I went in the interview and I cheerleaded For myself, and basically was very honest about my skill set. And it was weird. I thought I was, you know, was kind of a scary interview, not for me, but was a scary interview for Hey, I don’t even know if they’re going to call me back or ever had to do a second or third or fourth interview. It was just like, hey, left it all on the table, as you say, if you were an athlete, and then walked away. And they felt like what I had to say, and they hired me.
Matthew Allred 6:59
Well, it sounds like, yeah, probably the you said, the most honest. It’s probably the best interview you ever did. Because, yeah, I would agree, because you were willing to lay it on the table and just, hey, if you don’t like me, then it’s probably not a good fit, right? If you don’t like my honesty, then don’t hire me.
Steve Phillips 7:13
Yeah, I say that in any interview I’ve ever done, and even people, when I’m interviewing them, it’s, you know, employers make the mistake sometimes that they think they’re the ones interviewing. I think the employee and employer relationship you’re interviewing, whether this is the right if, when you get to a certain point in your career where you’re not chasing money, or you’re not chasing, you know, just give me a job. Kind of mentality, when you’re in that spot where you know you can take it or leave it and you know it’s not going to be the end of the world if you don’t get this one job, you really are interviewing the company to see if this is going to be a good fit for you and your personality, and is this going to be where you need to belong?
Matthew Allred 7:48
Yeah, totally agree. So what were some of your concerns, kind of coming in to a totally unknown industry mid career, what were you looking at?
Steve Phillips 8:01
I didn’t really have concerns in the beginning. I would say I had more concerns when I got in the position. Didn’t realize the career is very sink or swim mentality in this in the elevator world, it is very an old school career. And what I mean by that is just by dealing with unions and apprenticeship, it’s It reminds me a lot of me, I’m a fireman and I’m I was in the military, and there’s a lot of you have to prove yourself as rookie, and that that extends to management. So the mechanics that you work with on a daily basis, they’re going to test you, and they’re going to test you pretty quickly, and they’re going to see if you are the right stuff, and if you don’t, they’re going to break you pretty quick. And once I understood that, pretty quickly, within a week or two, I was able to get with the program and really get a hold of this. Is going to have to be a relationship of a partnership. They’re going to have to understand I come from one side, they come from another, and it was going to have to be but I didn’t need to back down. I needed to show them I knew what I was talking about. Because honestly, coming from not the elevator industry, I came in as a I would come in with a harder test than somebody I don’t get the Yeah, I don’t get the blanket. Hey, he’s from the elevator business. He’s been in all his life. It’s Hey, all right, guy, what do you think you know? You know we know more than you that kind of thing.
Matthew Allred 9:30
So tell me. Tell me, what is the right stuff? What did you have to show up with to to pass the test?
Steve Phillips 9:38
Well, I read the I read the union agreement, and then I was savvy enough to understand what you can and cannot do. And so a simple thing, like in the beginning, on call schedules. I had a meeting with my guys, and I said, Look, if you’re going to go on vacation, it’s your job to cover your on call if you’re on call that week. And I got tested right away, and I got Told, you know, pretty much we don’t have to do that thinking I didn’t read the union agreement. So that’s the first test, right? They want to see if they’re going to play the union card. And because I read the agreement, I said, basically it said I can be in charge of the on call schedules anytime I want. And basically, I can either do this nice, or I can do this letter to the law. And I just laid it out to them. I said, Look, we can have a great relationship where we work together as a team and we do the certain things to make this easier, or we can go to the letter of the law of the Union book, which means that I will also follow the letter of the law as a manager for the Union book. And I hope you’re doing everything the right way every day you show up to work. So that was the first one of, like, the bravado thing where, hey, I read the book. I’m challenging you. You’re challenging me, and I’m just like, we can work this out as a team, sure, or we can turn it into a management versus union thing. And I didn’t. I never wanted that. I wanted it have to be a partnership. And so that was really the culture that I built and tried to build with them, but they needed to know that I did my homework.
Matthew Allred 11:05
And to, you know, stick to your guns and, you know, we’re going to work together.
Steve Phillips 11:12
Yes. I mean, it’s a gruff industry, right? It’s a bravado industry. It’s a, it’s a, I mean, you’re dealing with, with, with men. And, you know, very little women, mostly in the office, but you’re dealing with a men in men industry, and it’s a lot of bravado. So you gotta have to, you gotta be able to walk the walk, as I say. So, yeah, yeah.
Matthew Allred 11:33
What was it after nine months that really started to come together? Because that’s what
Steve Phillips 11:38
It’s just when I started feeling comfortable like I every day, I would get so challenged that I would I was one of those, I’m one of those guys that really picks up on things really quickly, and I can, within four months, I can figure out my plan and how I’m going to do it, and then I go on cruise control, like, put everything in place. Um, I didn’t feel comfortable. In nine months, I would go home sometimes, and I would just be, you know, racking my brain of, how come this is not working, and I’m trying or how come this is not going and I don’t the nine month mark is when I actually I had one day in the nine month mark where I was like, I can do this and it’s not a problem, and I could put it on the cruise control that I’m so used to doing, and then inevitably, the next day wasn’t like that. So it, what I like, though, is it’s challenging. I never bored with my job. I mean, the one thing I will say is you’re constantly managing fires every day, all day, and it’s how you’re handling crisis I really think management in the elevator industry is crisis management.
Matthew Allred 12:40
Yeah, yeah. Well, there may be being an EMT and a firefighter,
Steve Phillips 12:43
Yeah. So my, like, my background, being an EMT, a firefighter working at NASCAR and dealing with on track incidents that you have to get off the track within an within a minute and a half so they can go back to TV. And you have cars going around you, and, you know, 100 miles an hour, you have to, you have to have thick skin, and you have to be able to to manage in chaos. And the elevator business world, what I’ve learned is constant chaos, and then trying to control the chaos, or managing the chaos, is really what makes you the difference between a good manager or one that really shouldn’t be in that position.
Matthew Allred 13:19
Sure. Sure. Yeah. I mean, if you’ve got a gift for that, then, yeah, that’s a probably good place for you, and somebody else may not have that correct, no, that skill.
Steve Phillips 13:28
And I’m not saying that all elevator jobs are like that, but if you’re working in the operation side of elevators, you need to be able to manage chaos.
Matthew Allred 13:35
Yeah, no, so are you? Are you glad you came? You glad you stuck it out?
Steve Phillips 13:38
Oh, I, I’m excited. I, I’ve been here celebrated five years in April, and I’ve quickly moved up in different positions. And I found my career. I found my career to retire in and when I left AAA, that was what I was really looking for. So I’m blessed that there was somebody in Southern elevator that put an ad out that didn’t require elevator, you know, elevator experience, and really cater to a regional manager or a ranch manager position. And that’s why I took the chance to apply, and that’s what how they landed me, because if it had anything in wording with elevator experience, I wouldn’t be here today as the COO of Southern elevator.
Matthew Allred 14:19
Yeah. What do you think it was that that made you be chosen for the position even though you didn’t have that that experience?
Steve Phillips 14:28
I so I share this with our leadership group now. I think I had a lot of management training put into me for me to become a manager. AAA, I went through a year long course with the executives, and had to prove that I could learn different things. And it wasn’t just, hey, we’re going to make you a manager. It was like, Hey, you’re going to go through this year long course and we’re going to teach you things that you need to know, P and L, how to lead people, how to manage people. HR, HR roles, How to manage difficult conversations, how to document like there’s just certain things that you have to know as a manager and elevator at least the smaller elevator companies don’t have that training. So I think they saw value in all of the leadership that was given to me by other companies, and being able to take that talent and taking that leadership and not having to be the ones to train, I think that’s what made me a valuable candidate, and why they went with me
Matthew Allred 15:37
And the fact that you’re just plain honest, right?
Steve Phillips 15:41
I mean, that is, I think so a friend of mine said to me, he goes, You and he knows me very well. And he goes, You are the right fit for this position. You are just enough white collar and just enough blue collar that you just put it all together. And I don’t disagree with him. I think I’m I’m enough in the in the company world, in the in the the, you know, the nine to five cubicle lifestyle, and then I’ve also, you know, done all the grunt work. And so that mix, I think it really helps me to understand, like, the mechanics in the field of and being able to deal with management. But the one thing I’ve learned in my life, if you’re honest with everybody, you really don’t have to worry about what you say or what comes out of your mouth, right? I don’t have to see, oh, what did I say to this person? Or this person? And I’m not saying it for everybody, but it’s also how you say it and all that kind of stuff. But at least when I say it, it comes with truth.
Matthew Allred 16:40
Yeah, that’s awesome. And obviously, there are, there are positions, you know, the jobs within the elevator industry that that you really have to have, you know, elevator experience. You can’t just go grab an adjuster, substitute taxi driver, and hey, you’re going to adjust elevator. What do you think are some of the jobs that that are deal or are good to maybe bring somebody in from the outside and bring in some of that skill that maybe we don’t have
Steve Phillips 17:10
Yeah, so I would say that, you know, the superintendents in the mod department need to have elevator experience, but the person who’s running the superintendents don’t necessarily have to have elevator experience. They just have to have a good working relationship where you can trust the information going back and forth. Branch managers, to me, don’t really need to be elevator people. Service coordinators. Don’t need to be elevator people, operations managers, probably with elevator experience, but I would rather have leadership in those positions. Your management roles really are more your I would rather have people that are trained how to deal with people, how to talk to people, how to influence people. But I do think mod superintendent level, but any branch office, any office manager, I actually don’t look for elevator people. Now, I’m quite the opposite in the industry. I’m kind of a renegade in that aspect. I’m I’m looking for. Do they have leadership positions? Do they have the management skills? Do they have the training background, and even the training that I’ve seen that came out of some of the international companies I’m not very impressed with, as far as they teach them the product, but they don’t teach them the the how to lead people, and management and leadership every day is influencing people to do what you need them to do, because you can’t make anybody do you can’t make anybody do anything they don’t want to do. So at the end of the day, it’s a transaction where if somebody gets up and says, I want to come to work and I want to work for this person, and then the other person’s like, I want to do best for my people. And hopefully those things match, and then it becomes a beautiful experiment that turns into gold. So I don’t, I think, I think, if I’m looking for the ideal candidate, I’m looking for somebody that has all of those leadership courses that I’m looking for, you know, Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie, Crucial Conversations, these things, these these classes that I know have been out in practice for a long time. What books have they read? Are they going to teach themselves leadership? I’m looking for that because I have people that have to manage men and talk to people. And if you can’t talk to people, you know the we don’t have a company that yells at people. I don’t allow mechanics to yell and curse at me, and I don’t curse and yell at mechanics. And it was a different that’s different than when I first got here. There was a lot of yelling and squarings and and no, we’re all going to come to each other with respect, yeah, and that’s kind of like the game changer. I think, I think that’s why we’re able to move the needle. We’ve moved so well and so many because we’re all teaching I respect mechanics. Like, if you want to ask me how I got this job, the first thing I got asked was, how are you going to deal with people that know how to do elevators, and you’re going to come in and you don’t know how to do elevators? And my answer was simple, we’re going to start with respect. They have to respect the job that I’m doing, and I have to respect the job that they do. I’m not going to come in and. Tell an elevator mechanic to fix an elevator. That’s not my role, but I am going to tell him, based on the information that I’ve gathered, that that should take this much time, and you will support you, but you have to do everything you can to get that job done right the first time and put it together, right, and not take up extra time so we can move on the next one, so we can be profitable, right? And it’s that simple, and we make things a lot harder in the elevator world, and it’s not that hard?
Matthew Allred 20:26
Well, and just hearing you rattle off those books that you did, you know, I’ve read those books, you know, and it seems like every one of them is is really about treating people like people like you say, you know, it’s respecting them. But hey, you’re a human. I’m a human, you know, I’m not, I’m not here to accuse you of whatever, or like, say swear at you or throw you under the bus. It’s like, let’s just have some human dialog where I respect you, you respect me, and we’re going to get through this.
Steve Phillips 20:55
I mean, early on, like, until people knew how to deal with me. I mean, I would get mechanics calling me up, cursing at me, and I would just stop them and say, Hey, we’re not going to do that. If we want to continue the conversation, we’re going to have a conversation, but we’re not going to we’re not going to be cursing at me, and I’m not going to curse at you.
Matthew Allred 21:10
Which is huge, because what, what you’ve done is, is by not allowing that to suck you in, right? I mean, how many times I confess I’ve done it right? When somebody gets upset at me and I get triggered
Steve Phillips 21:22
Yeah and I am not perfect either. I’m not saying I do this 100% of time, but I work towards that, yes
Matthew Allred 21:27
yeah, yeah. And just just knowing what that looks like that, Hey, I hear you, I hear the emotion, I hear the swear words, I hear the whatever. Let’s not go there, right? I’m not going to take it personal enough that I need to yell back or defend my my honor
Steve Phillips 21:41
Or you know, the one of the tactics I always like to use it. So what do you want to do now? You just yelled at me, and you’ve just done whatever I told you. I’m going to work on it. So what’s the next steps? And when you ask them that question, they’re kind of stopping their tracks because they’re used to somebody just You’re a piece of crap and no, but your next steps? No, you told me. I told you, I’m going to fix it. How are we going to fix it? No, now where are we right? Right? What’s your solution? It’s, again, those are the techniques that I’ve learned in crucial conversations. Is how to redirect or how to how to stop somebody, and that’s who I’m trying to hire in management. I want people that can can do that. I don’t want people that has been in the field and you know that all they know is how to yell at people and curse on the job and then, see, I try to so the whole idea, what we’re talking about, is creating culture. So, you know, once I got the job, I tried to create culture, and the culture is, what is the culture going to look like? Respect. I don’t want our I don’t want our customers walking by while we’re doing a mod or we’re doing a repair job, and all you hear is f this and F that. That’s not a good look for Southern Elevator, and that’s nobody wants to hear that. It’s a place of business. Um, so took me about three years, but to change that culture and now have them understand what professionalism is and what professionalism looks like. And it you gotta take it slow. If you try to pull the band aid off, or you try to do it too, do quick, you’re going to have people reject it, which the best thing you can do is management is that they don’t even know they’re coming along for that ride, and they get to the end because they’re just doing it naturally, because it’s a natural progression.
Matthew Allred 23:11
Well it sounds like you’re you’re not, you’re not focusing on, and you can, you can describe this better to me, but like you say, if they don’t really know they’re coming along, you’re not, you’re not focusing in on, hey, you said that word again, right? You’re not making that the big deal. You’re you’re really just bit by bit
Steve Phillips 23:30
So it starts with the culture. So a good example, some of the things I did when I first got there is I started having Monday, I listened, right? I had a little I took I figured out who were the the alphas in the group and who were not the alphas. And you can find out pretty quickly. You see them chatting around. And so I created a little mechanic Council, right with my group. And then I said, All right, you get three are going to be my guys that we’re going to talk about issues, and I’m going to tell you what I want to try. You’re going to tell me if it’s going to work, or if you can tell me it’s not going to work. And I listened. I listened to what the problems are? I also sat down and said, What? What are the problems from this office and management that you, if you had to pick your top five, what are the biggest problems? So then I started working on those before I did any changes, because I wanted to show them I’m in it with them, and I’m a team. And so I worked on those issues. So that bought me capital, that bought me, that bought me, that bought me money for the next thing I needed to do. And so then when I started trying to change some cultures, whenever they came to me, I said, well, didn’t I just fix those things for you? Didn’t I just help you? Didn’t I just didn’t my actions show you that I’m your teammate and I’m going to make this happen. Well, now I need you to be teammate for me, and we need to make these things happen so that we can keep everybody going along. And then I put it to him very simply, like, the more money we make, the more we can hire more mechanics, the more we can hire more mechanics, the more everybody stays employed, the less money we make, the less mechanics I can have, and the less people can stay employed. You need to help me get there. How do you help me get there? Well, we have to be profitable. Yeah, sure. And I told them all this, and we started having Monday morning meetings, and we started sharing numbers. And that was something radical, but we didn’t share numbers like we beat them up. We just did numbers for numbers. So if I wanted referrals from a mechanic, and I would go down the list, and I would say this one had $10,000 this week. This one had $5000 this one had zero. I wouldn’t go, you suck because you had zero. I would just say this one had zero. And naturally they would want, not want to be on the list zero.
Matthew Allred 25:28
Well, they would also understand that, oh, you know what, we did take four extra hours to right, whatever right. I mean, it’s a it’s a learning, whether you know, and especially if you’re not, you know, digging into it and embarrassing them in front of all periods.
Steve Phillips 25:43
It’s like because it became routine and it was a matter of fact, that’s the ride they don’t even know they’re on. And I’m literally just getting there by making sure that we’re talking about numbers. We’re talking about service completion every Monday, consistently at eight o’clock, we’re going to have a meeting, we’re going to have we’re going to have a participation, we’re going to do an attendance, and we’re going to ask you how anything we can do better for you, and then we’re going to talk about things they can do better for us. And then we’re going to talk about numbers. And we did that consistently every Monday morning for four or five years
Matthew Allred 26:14
Well and you’re probably still doing right? Well, yeah,
Steve Phillips 26:17
We’ve decided to try something different because we also don’t want to make it boring. So now we do one on Monday, one Monday a month, because we’re trying to. So here’s another thing, when you’re trying to get margin, taking guys out of the field sure takes up a lot of time. That’s not billable and not not profitable. So what we’re doing now is we’re moving to once a month doing a Monday morning meeting, but every day, we’re doing an email blast, I mean, a text blast, to every mechanic, and we’re still giving the numbers, and we’re still giving information. We’re just using it in a better way, so that we’re not we’re evolving, and we’re not taking people out of the field. So so we’re still doing that, but we’re just using a different way to communicate.
Matthew Allred 26:59
So you and I talked, I don’t know, weeks ago, month ago, I forget when, but you talked about, kind of helping everybody get out of firefighting mode, correct? So when I first about that?
Steve Phillips 27:10
Yeah, so when I first got to the office and I became a branch manager, I paid attention to what was going on, and I would see my service coordinator take a phone call, and elevator was down. Customer wants to somebody come out right away. And I would see my service coordinator literally take somebody off a repair job that was scheduled and send them to send them to the the down. And I started questioning, why are we doing that? And and I watched the way branch branches work, and you’re constantly getting fielding calls with customers complaining about something or wanting something. I mean, hardly ever does somebody call you and go, I just want to tell you guys did a good job. It’s going to be something’s down or and then I had to create a triage tree, and I stole kind of what we do into track. And how do you determine who needs the most help for better purposes? If you have, if you have, if you have multiple cars that crash on the track, and you get up there and nobody’s hurt, you move on to the next one. You let them figure out how to get to where they stay. And I was watching our elevator people kind of stick with the people that didn’t really need help. And I started putting some questions in place. And it was very simple. Questions was like, did anybody die? Did anybody get injured? Is it their only elevator? I’m sorry, is somebody entrapped? Is it their only elevator? You know, those four questions determine that stops business. That means whether somebody
Matthew Allred 28:38
gets pulled off something or not, right? You got to determine how important is this, because it doesn’t matter. No, the building’s empty for the next week, correct? We don’t need to be sending somebody over there.
Steve Phillips 28:47
Or, how about this, if you have four elevators in the building, sure that doesn’t become a priority, that one of them is down, sure we can get to that the next day, and that, and that’s where i i had to teach like we don’t have to stop business just because somebody now, I know it stinks, and I would love to be 24 hours a day, but just No, that’s no, that’s not a business model where we have just people laying and laying around, or, you know, sitting in their trucks waiting for a phone call to come. They’re busy doing something. So again, building that’s empty. You know, I understand that customer wants to stare today, but that can wait till three. Can wait till tomorrow. Meanwhile, the person that has their only elevator, and it’s a three stop elevator, and it’s a, it’s a, you know, an older age home where people are in wheelchairs or whatever, that needs attention. Not the person, not a two stop, not a two stop elevator, and office building where people could take the stairs, sure, you know. So, yeah, it was just determining critical thinking skills. And really, that’s what I was trying to implore. And I didn’t, you realize people, you know, it’s natural to me, but I’ve been doing this since I was 17 in the military, right? You literally go through a class that teaches you, if this person is about to die, you just kind of let them die. Because you go to the person that actually needs help, those are tough reality conversations, and if you’ve never been involved in that, but now you apply it to the business level, and you say the same thing, if that elevator doesn’t need us and that customer doesn’t need us right away, we need to prioritize who’s who needs us more, not who yells at us more, who pays the most money? Who actually needs us more? And that changed as well.
Matthew Allred 30:26
Yeah was going to say how, how’s that affected the business overall?
Speaker 1 30:29
Well, in Charlotte, we turned Charlotte around to be a profitable branch that wasn’t a profitable branch for you know, 10 years before I got there, it made the day a lot more manageable. I have a saying, manage the day. Don’t let the day manage you. And what do I mean by that? Well, if you’re managing your day and you’re managing how you’re getting to your priorities, and you’re focusing on things, um, simple things like I put in place, like do billing from this hour to this hour, do emails and callbacks from this hour to this hour, I created schedules for people that didn’t know how to manage their time and say, Look, you take some time out and you can let that phone call go to voicemail. You can let you can let the answering service get it. We can not everything has to be Johnny on the spot, because if you’re always looking at the squirrel, you never catch the squirrel.
Matthew Allred 31:19
Well, you’re always distracted. Yeah, you’re just chasing the squirrel, that’s right?
Speaker 1 31:23
And then what we were doing is we were actually making our customers more upset. There were repair jobs people, when they know a repair teams come and they do things in their office, they put signs up, they they they put emails out, and then when we don’t show up, you’re making somebody at that building look really bad. And so we weren’t helping those customers either, right? So we were making more customers mad, but trying to help the one customer that called. So it was a snowball effect, and we weren’t being very we weren’t being very courteous for customer service. And people think customer service is all the time. You do everything that the customer wants. Customer service is being open and honest with a customer of what you can and cannot do and setting realistic expectations.
Matthew Allred 32:04
Yeah, so let me ask you this. You’ve got a customer who maybe they’re expecting, you know, Johnny, to show up every time I say, Hey, this is down, even though I got four elevators. How did that go with them when they realize what you’re not going to show up, you’re going to you’re going to prioritize that old folks home with only one elevator and people in wheelchairs
Steve Phillips 32:21
it becomes crucial conversations. So you start meeting with customers, and you start setting the expectations. If you have that customer that doesn’t understand what we’re trying to do, then I have a meeting with the customer, and I explained to the customer that while, yes, you are very important to us and you’re a priority, that if something becomes more urgent, we’re going to have to take that because we have a portfolio. Now you want to pay for extra service. You want to pay for, I mean, you can always pay for more, more priority if you want it, but nobody ever takes that option, right? You know they usually the ones that are actually complaining about being there on the spot, are the ones that are paying us the least as well. Now that that should ever come into effect, but it just seems to go hand in hand every time
Matthew Allred 33:02
yeah, yep, yep, expecting the most and paying the least.
Steve Phillips 33:07
That’s that seems to be our industry. Yes, yeah.
Matthew Allred 33:10
So you, you told me at one point that that you feel like the industry is ripe for a change.
Steve Phillips 33:17
So I’ve gone to about three conferences so far I’ve been I have the privilege, and I sit and I listen a lot, and people don’t think I listen a lot, but I do, and I hear a lot of talk about change, but I don’t see the willingness to change. I see them trying to take whatever the change is and fit it in their box. Well, that’s not really how the industry works.
Matthew Allred 33:40
What kind of change would you say is, is the right kind of change? And what do you envision?
Steve Phillips 33:46
Well, I’ve what I envision is elevators. Elevator companies become our industry has been tarnished by the getting to numbers without doing service, getting to numbers without or doing contracts, knowing that you’re going to be billing them for every little thing on the back end, because you can find it in the contract, and you make the those contracts, and some of those contracts I’ve seen are harder than the military contracts that I signed to become a military become a person in the army, and my packet was this thick, so it’s a lot of lawyer ease and a lot of things to just try to, try to, you know, undercut other industry, undercut the businesses, and then basically hurt the customer in the end, so they can make their money that they undercut the businesses to get the contract. I think if the industry really looked at, how can we do things better, and how can we innovate without taking away service, then I think the industry is ripe for change. And what I mean by that is I think you can still do service, you can still put a great product out, you can still be one of the best companies around and innovate with technology, and be able to not take knowledge. To replace mechanics, but to enhance the mechanics so that they’re more efficient and they’re doing things better. And what I haven’t seen is, I have not seen companies do that yet,
Matthew Allred 35:10
and is that, I think that’s something you’re working on, though, right? I mean, that’s, that’s part of
Speaker 1 35:14
that’s what I’m here. We are doing it. We’ve already started doing it, but I keep hearing this at the conferences, but everybody seems to be dumbfounded on how to make it work, sure, and so I don’t see them embracing the technology and using it for the they’re all just from what I’ve gathered, and I’m not trying to pick on people, but from what I gathered, I the questions I hear is, how can I do this in lieu of service? And it’s a one focused mindset, yeah,
Matthew Allred 35:40
yeah. Well, it’s not one, it’s not one or the other, right? And they’re not actually
Steve Phillips 35:43
You can do both, and it’s just figuring out how to do both. And then the other thing too, is we don’t have to keep undercutting ourselves. And I won’t do it like i i One of the changes that I made is I’m not going to chase a contract just to have a contract. Sure, if you want a bottom bargain for contracts, you’re going to pay for that, but you’re also going to get that kind of service. If you want people to really do service, and you want to have, like, you don’t have your elevator go down, because we’re actually doing service, and where you’re letting you know there’s upgrades, then we’re going to be the company for you. But you’re going to pay the premium for that. You don’t have to. I feel like the industry always feels like they have to cut corners or cut, you know, try to try to try to do the bait and switch with customers. Or I’m trying to be very careful. I said that, but doing bait and switch with customers, or what I’ve seen is, let’s take technology and not do service at all. Yeah, and that model is not sustainable. I mean, short term, in the short term, you’re going to make a lot of money, but what happens is, you see those same companies go through their whole entire staff, and people lose their jobs for that short term gain. Yeah. Now I want a long term game where we’re going to have customers for life, and we’re going to be the ones that are going to to build those relationships and partnerships and sustain good relationships to the point where people won’t leave us because they’ve been down that road before, right? And we do what we say, and we say what we mean, and I think technology will help you get to the margins you want without having to sacrifice service.
Matthew Allred 37:23
Cool, cool. Yeah, well, this is great. This is great. Um, So Steve, we’re, we’re getting close to our time, but I’ve got a few more questions I want to, want to bounce off you, um, what advice would you give to somebody who’s new to the industry, kind of like yourself?
Speaker 1 37:40
Give it nine months. First thing I say is, is learn, learn everything you can learn, but don’t. Don’t always think you have to do it one way. Don’t be afraid to try different things and see if you can get where you need to go by going against the grain sometimes,
Matthew Allred 38:02
right? Very good. What? What advice would you give to hiring managers that are already in the elevator industry, and maybe they feel like, Hey, we’re just not finding the talent we need.
Speaker 1 38:13
Start looking for people that would be grateful for the amount of money you’re going to pay, that have all of the things you want to check off, but maybe don’t have elevator experience. And what I mean by that is, if you take somebody like I’ve hired two people from Big Lots who got beat up on numbers, had to know their P and L, had to be people managers, had to deal with customers all of the things you want to check off, and they’re grateful for the money I’m paying them. Where I take the same person that’s been in the elevator business, who hasn’t been a good manager, who doesn’t know how to lead people, and are going to be very upset for what we’re paying them. Do you know what happens? I build loyalty, and those people don’t hop job, hop and try to go to other elevator companies they like.
Matthew Allred 38:58
Sure. I mean, you said the people that you were referring to didn’t have leadership experience, but it sounds like you’ve, you’ve found that there’s some, there’s some people outside the industry with some really solid leadership abilities,
Steve Phillips 39:11
yeah, and if given a chance, they will show you amazing things and bring new ideas too. Like, the other thing is, we can teach them the elevator part. I can teach them the elevator business and how to deal with vendors, and sure, what I can’t teach is I can’t teach how to talk to people in the beginning because I don’t have time. I don’t have the schooling. I don’t have the I don’t have the the ability to teach that.
Matthew Allred 39:37
Yeah, well, and if it’s not something that they at least bring a part of that, you know, maybe, maybe there’s oblivious to the fact that, oh, people are humans, and you need to respect them, you know?
Speaker 1 39:50
I mean, I mean, I start questioning when I start seeing job hopping. I don’t hire job hoppers either. Like, that’s one thing I won’t do, you know, I know that. So. Sometimes I think the industry uses it as an excuse. Well, it’s just the industry, or I hear that a lot, or it’s just the way it is in the industry. Why? Well, somebody has to go ask, why? Yeah, it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to just be a slave to the industry. You can literally change that by changing who you hire, what what you hire and what those priorities are for your company?
Matthew Allred 40:25
Yep. Well, um, so last question for you, Steve, what is the greatest thing you have learned in the elevator industry?
Speaker 1 40:34
I have that’s a, probably the toughest question you’re going to ask me. I have learned that the this is the salt of the earth people, that when you put it all together, it’s one of the most magical things to see happen. And I feel like in this industry, there are great people in this industry, and I’m very surprised about how much of a brotherhood it really was, like the fire department, like the military, like the EMS.
Matthew Allred 41:14
Tell me just a little bit more about that magic when you put it all together
Speaker 1 41:19
When you have a team of mechanics working with a team in the office, and they’re working towards the same goal, and they all understand they’re working for something bigger than just I collect a paycheck, or I’m going to get mine or whatever that saying is, and you start seeing the numbers come together, and it’s It’s effortless. Nobody’s getting beat up, nobody’s being yelled at. They’re just coming together because we’re just working as a team, and we’re having one on ones when somebody’s struggling and you’re lifting them up instead of beating them down. And I’m not saying it’s always perfect. There’s some people that don’t fit this model, but what I’m saying is, when you have the the majority of those people just coming together and not realizing what you’re doing and the culture that you create, and then you hit those numbers, and they don’t, they can’t even express to you how they got there. That’s the magic, right? Like, I’m very good at articulating how we got there, because it was my plan. But some of these people don’t even realize how we got there. They just come to work every day and they just do little things that we’ve asked them to do, but then you eat that whole entire elephant, and you can’t believe you ate the whole entire elephant, and you’re like, wow, we really did stuff. There’s a challenge any of your people that are listening, if you ever want to really understand how to build a culture, read the book. Whale done. It’s a it’s a very easy read. It’s by Ken Blanchard, and I’m not getting any money for that, but Who Moved My Cheese and Whale Done. Those are two very simple books that I make everybody read. And when you come down to it, it’s just a mindset, but it’s how you talk to people, it’s how you teach people, it’s how you treat people, that’s how you move numbers, that’s how you get to where you need to be. That’s how it becomes magic.
Matthew Allred 43:02
That’s awesome, I mean. And part of what I’m hearing you say is that there’s a synergy, there’s a there’s a, you know, something that starts to as everybody comes together and does their part. Then it’s like the the sum is greater than, Oh, the whole is greater.
Steve Phillips 43:19
Whatever cliche you want. You can use when you watch a football team put it all together, or a pit stop crew that has 12 seconds to basically dismantle a car and put a car back together. Or you’re talking about a baseball team that everybody’s doing their part. Or you ever wonder how you get young, 18 year old men to go get shot at? Yeah, I can tell you, you make it better. You make it about something bigger than it is, and so when and when, when you’re working for something bigger than it is, and you accomplish that, you feel like you’re on top of the world, yeah, because you’ve come together, and everybody does their part, and then it’s like it again. That’s why I call it magic,
Matthew Allred 44:02
beautiful. Steve, thank you so much. I appreciate your time. It’s it’s always good to talk to you, and thank you for your insights today.
Steve Phillips 44:09
No problem. Appreciate it. Thanks.
Matthew Allred 44:11
Yeah thank you. Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. You can check us out online at elevatorcareers.net, please subscribe and until next time, stay safe.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai