Getting wife involved

Kevin Moffett

New member
I want to get my wife more involved with the business doing things such as making and taking calls, over the phone estimates, Having knowledge of our services so she can explain what we do if asked by a customer.

Does anybody have any material they would like to share that they provide to their employees or wife that helps them to learn about the industry?
 
Have her start right here Kevin. PWI is a plethora of info. Also take her on jobs with you so she can learn first hand about chems, processes and equipment. My wife has helped me do commercial and residential jobs. She likes to help me out and we work good together.
 
My wife is 100% hands off with the business. Between work and starting to go back to school she doesn't have any spare time anyways. Plus if she found out how much $$$ I actually made she would want a new Maserati.

The benefit to this is I can order new equipment (like a new reclaim system from Jerry last week) and not even tell her until after it's ordered. Of course she got a little mad, but it's ok she doesn't question my business decisions.
 
Tomorrow is my wife's last day at Regions Bank, where she has been working for 8 years. She will be handling the office work side of things and the janitorial division of the company, freeing me up to handle more of the equipment side without sacrificing customer relationships. She says that she doesn't need to know the equipment side (pressure washing, carpet cleaning, tile cleaning) but I'm going to make her learn it anyway. You can't understand things until you've actually done it and seen it in action.
 
I have had my wife in it from day one with quoting, chemicals, and creating processes. I alway run what I'm thinking by her for a second opinion. I kept asking her to come with me and do some work but she never would. So one day I told her if she would come with me to wash some houses for the day I would give her all the money from the day. She is faster and more thorough then any of my employees now lol
 
My wife quit her job at the beginning of the year and started working with me full time. She answers ALL incoming calls and She does 90% of the quotes, we have a price per square footage for almost everything and she now knows what to ask and look for that could cost additional $$$.

She also does almost all of the scheduling and does payroll. In addition she calls every customer the day before to confirm the appointment and generally calls them when a the truck is on the way to the job. By the end of July we will have surpassed all of what we did in 2013. By adding her it allows me to do what I do best which is get stuff done. Now I rarely have contact with a customer before we show up to do a job, because she has already handled everything.

The biggest reason for our increase is our ability to respond to phone calls and quotes instantly. In the past when someone wanted a quote it might take a few hours for me to call them back and a day or two to get them the quote. Now she pulls it up online and responds in just a few minutes. Even if the price she quotes is $25 bucks or so lower than it should be it is still better than me going to look at the job just to quote. This way we only go see a house one time and that is to do the job. Also, my wife is a closer, she immediately asks for the job always assumes we will get it. She probably books 50-60% of the residential work on the first call. I am lucky, she was a very successful restaurant manager and knows how to handle people.
 
My wife quit her job at the beginning of the year and started working with me full time. She answers ALL incoming calls and She does 90% of the quotes, we have a price per square footage for almost everything and she now knows what to ask and look for that could cost additional $$$.

She also does almost all of the scheduling and does payroll. In addition she calls every customer the day before to confirm the appointment and generally calls them when a the truck is on the way to the job. By the end of July we will have surpassed all of what we did in 2013. By adding her it allows me to do what I do best which is get stuff done. Now I rarely have contact with a customer before we show up to do a job, because she has already handled everything.

The biggest reason for our increase is our ability to respond to phone calls and quotes instantly. In the past when someone wanted a quote it might take a few hours for me to call them back and a day or two to get them the quote. Now she pulls it up online and responds in just a few minutes.

Same here. My wife Stephanie has always had a small part since our beginning 6 years ago. Now, she handles all business management activities except maybe 10% of the more complex estimates, most supply purchases (I like dealing with suppliers myself) and quickbooks. I am teaching her the quickbooks part now. She is a great closer and we have remained at least 3 weeks booked out since March (with 2 months this year being 5 weeks booked out).
 
Last edited:
Wife is just getting of Maternity leave in Sept and will be taking on more of the books. She can invoice and, put payments, deposit cheques, sort receipts, all stuff I hate doing. She also keeps track of my two little ones, and keeps the house and the meals going. I don't think she will ever get beyond the office, which is fine by me.

I think the wife getting involved is also related to the type of wife you have. Mine is not the athletic type, so washing is not a good fit. Organization is, so the office is where she will excel at and enjoys doing. I quote something once a year, so no need to get her doing that, plus I would rather do that myself for the part of the industry that I do.
 
Back
Top