S01E20 - Providing Work Vehicles: A Decision of Value

Transcript

Welcome to Moose Tales. I'm Jon with Two Moose Home Inspections, and I have some short home inspection topics I can't keep to myself anymore. So, let's dive right in.

to provide a work vehicle or not? Well, of course, if you want to make more money, then don't provide anybody with anything and you'll be able to save all that money for yourself. But another idea would be if you want to become rich, make the people around you rich. And in turn, they'll elevate you as well.

So, when I think about why it is that I provide vehicles to my employees, it's because I want to reduce friction for them. I want to make their lives easier. I want to offer them something and show my appreciation to them. That's very important to me.

I want to say, here's a truck.

It has all the tools that you need. Everything is set up and customized. That way you can do your job as efficiently as you possibly can.

Here's a truck to allow you to market yourself anywhere that you go to help improve the amount of business that you're seeing. Therefore, the amount of profits that you are making.

Here's a truck. So, you have one less thing that you need to worry about because a vehicle has been provided, the maintenance has been provided, and all you have to do is be yourself.

Here's a truck to show my commitment to you. And hopefully in turn, you will show your commitment to me.

So, it might be said, that's a little too lovey dovey for me and for my business. And I don't think that I can agree with that. And that's fine. Everybody does their own thing.

If you don't want to go that approach and you want to be a little bit more of a dictator, then.

I can dictate what our brand looks like.

I can dictate what vehicle my employees are driving. I can dictate how we market the vehicle out in the real world. I can dictate how the tools in the truck are going to be stored. I can dictate that people have dashcams. I can dictate anything about the use of that vehicle. So, I guess that's one way that you could not worry about all that lovey dovey stuff and just be in control of that business.

But the reality is, if I take a look at our core values, the very first thing is professionalism first. And as much as I would love for my employee to show up in a 20 year old rusted out car, I think that the professionalism first, which is one of our values, would be better served by showing up in a brand new truck with a really nice rack, with really nice ladders on it, and tools that are properly organized.

and all the vinyl work that's on the outside of the truck. I think that's pretty professional. So, for us, with our core values and knowing that professionalism is our very first value for the business. I think it makes sense that all of our employees get a truck and get all the tools that they need.

And the same thing our inspectors tool harnesses aren't just the cheap run of the mill tool harness.

They are the occidental leather, 300 plus dollar tool harnesses that just look amazing because, again, professionalism first. Now, does every home inspection company need to get brand new trucks for their employees and really top of the line nice tools? No, definitely not. But for our brand with professionalism first as our number one core value, that's the way that we do things.

And the question being, would I make more money or less money if I did or did not provide the trucks?

There's no real way to say whether or not we would make or would not make more money having or not having the trucks. But the way that I look at it is the truck is an expense that the business has to pay for in order to be professional.

And I'm pretty sure that we would probably make more money if we didn't have to pay for the trucks and pay for the commercial auto insurance and pay for maintenance and repairs and all of that.

But would we be able to retain our employees? Would we long term make more money or lose money because we aren't professional? So, it's really one of those things that in your heart of hearts, you need to make the decision, do I provide vehicles or do I not? Because there are so many large corporations out there that do not provide vehicles?

I mean, heck, you can see it with Uber and Lyft, but that's their model and that's how they worked. You can see it with the pizza delivery person, but that's their model and that's how they work for us, our model and how we work is you get a brand new Toyota Tundra and it's got all the tools you need to be able to perform your job.

All you need to do is do all of our training and show up and follow our core values. That's about it. And I think that's a pretty good deal.

and again, in a resort town, which is our area, we have a housing crisis. Things are extremely expensive, and labor just isn't one of those things that you can just readily have. It's something that needs to be taken care of. And so that's why I take care of my employees by providing them with a truck.

As business owners, we tell ourselves stories to justify the decisions that we've made. And I'm not saying that those stories are right or wrong or the decisions are right or wrong, and everybody will have their own take on whether or not to provide a vehicle for their employees or not. And vehicles are very expensive. And so, the decision that I made that I will need to justify is I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on vehicles, on equipment, to go on to the vehicles and tools to be put into the vehicles.

So, what's the story that I tell myself? Well, I tell myself that because of our brand and professionalism and all of these things, people will recognize the investment that was made. People will recognize the professionalism that we have. People will recognize eventually the training and the quality and all those things. But first impressions are so important. And even if, let's say somebody sees our truck while they're going to get groceries or whatever it may be,

They will then become familiar with our brand and therefore refer somebody or maybe make a purchase themselves whenever they're ready for home inspection.

Now, again, this is a story that I tell myself, and whether it's true or not, only time will tell, but even then, nothing's definitive.

So, I guess the short answer is I provide vehicles for my employees because I want to, and I think everybody has to make that decision for themselves. That's a part.