Plumbers’ Success International

It’s in the name

 

Plumbers’ Success International’s (PSI) goal is to help independent residential service plumbers become more successful. Psi is like a Contractor’s College where plumbers with the technical knowledge of the trade can discover the proven systems and strategies to become successful businesspeople. If you find yourself struggling to read a P&L statement, attract and hire the best employees, create marketing that gets the phone to ring, and all of the keys of running a successful business, PSI can provide the knowledge and skills that you need. By utilizing the psi system, contractors can gain greater freedom of time, market dominance and financial independence.

 

Psi all started when, in the 1990s, Jim Abrams and John Young revolutionized the hvac industry by helping independent contractors achieve an unprecedented level of success. They realized that the independent contractor was facing the difficulties of business with only his own talents, knowledge and experience. They can’t talk and get help from their competitors, so most had nowhere to turn. Rather than leaving the independent to battle all on his own, they formed Contractors Success Group to help those contractors who were great tradesmen but needed the systems, knowledge and tools to become great businesspeople.

 

After that success, Abrams and Young set out to help plumbing contractors who had stepped out on a limb by starting their own companies. With their hvac background, they had the successful business acumen, but to add the plumbing skills and knowledge they lacked, they searched for the model residential service plumber.

 

Throughout their search, one name continued to pop up — Mike Diamond. Mike Diamond was the largest, most successful residential service plumber in the country, and Jim and John partnered with him to combine his proven system for plumbing success with their own contracting knowledge. Together they formed Plumbers’ Success International in 1999.

 

Since then, hundreds of independent plumbing contractors have joined PSI over the last 10 years to put these proven systems and knowledge to work in their companies.

 

Phc News proudly brings you this exclusive Q&A with Mike Diamond, ceo of PSI.

 

Phc: How did you get involved with the industry?

 

Diamond: Through my years in plumbing, I’ve tackled every challenge and obstacle that a contractor can face. I got started in the plumbing industry by helping a neighbor who happened to be a plumber. As I grew a little older, I decided I wanted to try service work on my own, so I opened Mike Diamond Plumbing. I was only 19 when I got my California license and became the youngest licensed contractor in the state.

 

Even so, my company had a humble beginning. I started running my one truck out of my parents’ garage and was making all of the classic mistakes like calling around to the competition and pricing myself just a little bit lower. I figured at that time that if I charged more I’d be ripping people off, but over the years I discovered how crucial pricing and value are to the success of a company.

 

My goal when I opened my company was to be able to add one truck every year. That’s a goal I’ve been able to meet and exceed.

 

After a few years of doing every variety of work, I finally realized that residential service was the area with the most potential so that’s where I focused my company. For a long time, I was doing everything. The company revolved around me. I ran the calls, did the marketing, bid the jobs, and tried to fit in paperwork and billing in my “down time.”

I had no system or procedures, and I was getting tired. As we grew even larger, I eventually had to take myself out of the truck. There were days that I had to fight the urge to get back out there, but it was time to work on the business rather than in it.

 

That’s when things started to click. I met a great mentor of mine, George Brazil, who introduced me to other successful business owners. I began to piece together successful systems that my employees could use to operate the business at a profit whether I was there or not. Those systems included a highly organized truck and bin system so that the technician always has the parts he needs on the truck. It included the call center procedures my dedicated call center still uses today. It included the recruiting and training procedures I’ve used to attract the best people. Those were just some of the systems that became the backbone of psi.

 

In the 1990s, I started to acquire other contractors and began to grow at a rapid pace. It was possible now that we were operating on proven systems, and when the opportunity came to form Plumbers’ Success International with Jim and John, I was excited about the opportunity to impact the lives of other plumbers with the systems I’d created. When a contractor joins psi, they are receiving my 30 plus years of plumbing knowledge at once, and my hope is that this knowledge and these systems will save them years of heartbreak and struggle.

 

Phc: PSI staffs how many people? Please briefly describe the other co-founders and their roles with PSI.

 

Diamond: Today PSI is part of the Clockwork Home Services family, which employs over 1,100 people.

Clockwork Home Services is guided by one of the co-founders of Plumbers’ Success International, Jim Abrams. Abrams built a track record of building businesses ranging from the world’s largest Weight Watchers franchise to one of the fastest growing residential hvac companies. The common thread in all his ventures has been their enormous success.

 

In 1990, Abrams and John Young founded Contractors Success Group (csg), an hvac affinity group for independent hvac contractors. Csg offered step-by-step training for contractors aimed at increasing sales and profitability and building value in their businesses. With Abrams as ceo, Contractors Success Group became a very profitable management and marketing consulting organization that revolutionized the residential air-conditioning service industry.

 

In March 1996, Abrams and Young founded Service Experts, Inc., where Abrams was president, chief operating officer and director of the nation’s first publicly held consolidator in the hvac industry. They took the company public in August 1996 at $60 million in sales. It grew to a run-rate of $288 million of managed or acquired companies by the time Abrams stepped down in September 1997.

 

In 1998, he teamed with Young again to form Clockwork Home Services, Inc., the parent company of Success Academy®, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®, One Hour Air Conditioning®, Buy Max®, and SGI’s Plumbers’ Success International®, AirTime 500®, Electricians’ Success International, and Roofers’ Success International. He holds two patents and is the contracting industry’s most influential mentor.

 

The other co-founder of Plumbers’ Success International is John Young. John Young has applied the knowledge gained from more than 30 years in the air conditioning industry to become one of the nation’s most respected marketing and management consultants for mechanical service contracting and other similarly structured industries.

 

In 1990, Young partnered with Jim Abrams and co-founded Contractors Success Group, which eventually led them to found Clockwork Home Services as mentioned above.

 

Today, he is chief marketing officer of Clockwork Home Services, Inc.

 

Phc: What are the main advantages of becoming a PSI member?

 

Diamond: The main advantages of becoming a psi member are tapping into proven systems and strategies and having access to other elite plumbing contractors across the country. Contractors that join psi will make more money, grow their company faster, have more time for family and vacations, will increase their success, and will perhaps create wealth and enjoy a potential wealthy exit strategy.

 

Most of all, the advantage of psi is that on day one you receive the proven systems that I’ve used throughout my career to build my company that today runs over 100 trucks with revenue of more than $20 million.

 

Phc: How can people sign up?

 

Diamond: The journey to success for a plumbing contractor interested in psi starts at Profit Day. Think of Profit Day as a big superpowered success blender where we combine top management tips, concrete marketing ideas to get your phone to ring, no holds barred methods to cut your expenses, dynamic solutions for generating more revenue instantly, and the closely-guarded secrets of the most successful contractors in the country.

 

We blend all that dynamic information and pour it into one insanely powerful yet entertaining day that brings you together with other like-minded business owners. You’ll laugh, you’ll cheer and you’ll profit. But you have to be there to experience it.

 

We hold Profit Days throughout the country all through the year, and contractors can find out the latest schedule by calling 800/419-1108

 

Phc: How many members?

 

Diamond: Today, PSI has approximately 300 members and it is growing.

 

Phc: Describe the Success Academy.

 

Diamond: Success Academy provides the training for the front line employees of psi members. PSI members receive the latest competitive advantages at each Summit, and Success Academy provides the training that allows the employees of each company to turn those advantages into surefire results. Whether it’s the strategies that a call taker can use to book 90% or more of the calls that come in or the methods a technician can use every time they approach a home to boost their average ticket, Success Academy provides the hands-on training that creates success.

 

Phc: What is the contractor’s investment in PSI and what is the ultimate return?

 

Diamond: The investment in PSI is less than the cost of a new truck and the ultimate return comes from improving your life, which you can’t put a price on. The ultimate return is not just money, market dominance or improved success. It’s being able to give back to your community, provide a better life for your employees than they never dreamed of, feeling the pride and personal satisfaction of being a successful business owner and stepping away from the idea of just being a plumber and becoming an elite business operator. If you’re a member of psi, the Contractors’ College, you will not only be a master in plumbing, but you’ll be a master business builder as well. The investment in psi is one that provides returns for the rest of your life in increased happiness and success.

 

Phc: How is the website instrumental in PSI’s success?

 

Diamond: Our website (www.plumberssuccess.com) provides access for our members to all of our proprietary tools and information and it provides a forum where they can share successes and ideas. However, the website is not the primary focus of the psi experience. Some other companies and organizations merely put material on their website for contractors to download and read, but at psi, we are a Contractor’s College that provides knowledge, education, and training on the exact, step by step process of what it takes to be successful.

 

Phc: What are your initiatives for the company?

 

Diamond: Psi is continually looking for ways to provide independent residential service plumbers with an edge.  Twice a year the psi membership gathers for our psi Summits where we unveil the latest systems and programs based on the industry’s technology and trends so that psi members are always on the cutting edge. psi’s initiative is to keep providing our members with competitive advantages that will allow them to succeed.