Although Richard Werner does not believe in advertising, Werner Electrical Services has grown steadily and at an increasing rate during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
In this third and final installment, he discusses what he has learned about conducting a successful business and his strategy for going forward. The previous installment can be found here.
Advertising? No, Thank You.
Suite 101: You mentioned something about attracting more of a particular type of contract. Do you do a lot of advertising?
Werner: Actually, I don’t. The thing that’s really worked for me, that’s really been a fundamental piece for me over the past year is integrity. When I got clear about that, that’s when we started to have really explosive growth.
I’m not saying I’m perfect at this. It’s still a work in progress. But the concept of integrity is really what it is. It’s really basic stuff that a lot of other contractors can’t seem to do consistently. I see other contractors struggling with this all the time. It’s really amazing to me to watch this.
Basically, it's doing what you say you’re going to do. Of course, there are circumstances that happen sometimes and you can’t do what you said you would, so you keep good communications with the client or the general contractor so they know what’s going on. But doing what you say is enormous and it pays huge dividends.
I really don’t see why other guys can’t see that. There’s a small group of contractors that I’m friends with, one of whom is really, really doing well and he really, strongly gets this. The other guys in the group, for the most part, understand it, too. Other guys who don’t get it, seem to be struggling and they don’t seem to understand why.
It’s a really basic concept to me and it blows me away that other guys don’t seem to live by it. It would make their lives so much easier.
Integrity is the Key
Suite 101: Do you have any advice or words of wisdom to share with anyone who might be either struggling or wanting to start their own business?
Werner: I think that book by Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich, is a good one. I think he really touches on the integrity aspect. I think that’s a good starting point.
The big thing is to not only focus on integrity in your business, but integrity of yourself in life. That’s just going to come back to you.
The other thing I would say is that a lot of the guys I talk to about going into business are afraid, especially of the financial side of it. I think that Wattles talks about that, too – basically shoring yourself up and doing what you have to do. But to go off on your own, one thing you have to do is let go of your fear.
You have to have faith in yourself and you have to have faith that the Universe will provide you what you need at the times that you need it. Also, things aren’t going to show up in the ways you expect. It’s never going to work that way. It’s going to be something pretty bizarre like a piece of property that you’re making income from catching fire.
Integrity leads to Satisfied Customers and Referrals
Suite 101: So you don’t advertise but clients keep showing up and sometimes in the strangest ways. Is that right?
Werner: That’s true, yeah. I’ll get phone calls from people who have the strangest connections back to me or to my work. A ton of my business is from referrals from other people based on integrity.
For example, this person gets some work done and ten of his friends ask, “Oh do you know an electrician, I need these things done.” And the first person’ll say, “Oh, yeah. This guy was really great. He showed up when he said he would and he did the work for the price he said he would and he did a good job.”
Suite 101: Referrals from former clients.
Werner: Yeah. And it’s all expanded off of that. So if you can get the integrity thing down, there’s really no need to advertise.
My biggest thing about advertising is that I feel that I’d be attracting clientele that I wouldn’t want to work for. One of the biggest positive things about doing what I do is that I don’t have to work for people who are unpleasant or difficult to work for.
My sense is that with the typical person who might call from a Pennysaver ad, it’s a roll of the dice. You never know if the person you get is going to turn out at some point to be real difficult or what. Sometimes you might get somebody good, but really with the money you’re going to spend on it, if you just put that same effort into the integrity side of it, you’ll do just fine.
Go With Your Gut, Trust Yourself
Suite 101: So to sum up, your original reasons for going into business for yourself were primarily to get away from a job you didn’t like and to be your own boss. Is that right?
Werner: Yeah. And it just turned out that I realized over time as I worked on my own personal growth that I was just following my gut and doing what I was supposed to be doing anyway. The more I understood that and became in tune with that, the easier things became and the more successful I became.
Suite 101: Do you have any final thoughts?
Werner: Well, being in business for yourself is not for everybody, but if you know that that’s what you want to do with your life, then, as funny as it sounds, you have to take the necessary actions to make things work. I guess what I’m saying is that you have to just go for it. You have to trust yourself. Just do it.
To see the previous installments in this series, please click here for the first and here for the second.
David Park - David Park was awarded BS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Biology by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds advanced ...
