John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Plumbing & Heating, shares the importance of understanding your strengths and taking calculated risks. He also highlights the marketing strategy that has helped him scale his family business.

Recognize Potential

One opportunity can change your life dramatically. John was unsure about getting into the family business when the idea first surfaced. As the grandson of the founders of the company, he had his mind set on founding his own business in a different industry. However, he saw a chance for growth and expansion in the business and decided it was the right time to buy in — a decision he’s grateful for today.

In order to help the business grow, John shares that he and his team implemented these upgrades:

• Updated website for user experience and improved accessibility to service offers and testimonials.
• Moved from paper-based filings to computer based filings.
• Switched to a flat-rate model. 
• Improved marketing efforts. 

Recognizing the potential in the family business and optimizing the strategies already in place helped John scale the business by 5 times since he first bought in.

Understand Your Strengths (And Your Weaknesses)

John says he has a good understanding of who he is and what he isn’t good at. This allows him to delegate to the right team members.

“Over the past four years it’s really been about getting me only doing what I am good at and getting rid of everything that I am not good at. People seem to make that harder than it is but it’s really not. One, I am not good at operating a company and two, I don’t like doing it. That said, there are plenty of people out there who would love nothing more than to do all of the things that I don’t like doing.”

Take Calculated Risks

John has learned firsthand how investing in the right areas of your business instead of just slashing budgets pays off.

“When there is blood in the streets, you go. That’s the rule. What’s the real damage? What is actually going to happen? The stock market is not going to go to zero. That’s not going to happen. If it does, then I have bigger problems than the money I just lost.”

He believes that businesses operate far too much on fear and this will not lead to growth. You have to make investments and take risks. This mindset allowed John to triple their business during one of the toughest market years in history.

Buy Businesses Strategically

When looking to buy or sell a company, there are several factors to keep in mind. John has engaged in many conversations around buying other businesses and shares how he identifies a company worth pursuing:

1. The company understands their true value and they don’t believe they are worth more (or less) than they are.
2. They keep clean financial records.
3. There is a clear upside to purchasing.
4. The seller is understanding and communicates well.
5. The business is reasonably priced.

If a business checks all of these boxes, it may be worth investing your time and money.

Market Effectively

Take a balanced approach to your marketing efforts, says John. Don’t only invest in digital, and on the flip side, avoid investing only in the traditional. 

“The traditional media has gotten severely underpriced because everyone has gone digital, so for the moment, traditional media is bargain basement. So we have been investing a lot more money into that because other people aren’t looking at it.”

When it comes to marketing, focus on who you want to target and keep your options open. 

For more information on his business and services, visit Wilson Plumbing & Heating.