Double Your Profit Day #11 The Secret to Maximizing Profit (and Minimizing Stress)

Summary

Owned and Operated Podcast Summary

Episode: Double Your Profit Day #11: The Secret to Maximizing Profit (and Minimizing Stress)
Hosts: John Wilson and Jack Carr
Release Date: August 11, 2025

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In this episode of Owned and Operated, hosts John Wilson and Jack Carr delve into strategies for maximizing profits while minimizing stress within plumbing, electrical, and HVAC businesses. The discussion centers around optimizing scheduling, prioritizing high-value jobs, and making strategic decisions about routing and personnel allocation.

1. Optimizing Your Schedule for Profit

John Wilson opens the conversation by emphasizing the critical importance of schedule optimization for business profitability. He states:

"Today we're talking about optimizing your schedule for profit. Now this is something every business should tackle literally as soon as you can."
— John Wilson [00:00]

He explains that prioritizing the highest opportunity and highest margin jobs is essential. For instance, in the plumbing sector, a water heater repair is a high-margin job compared to fixing a drippy faucet. By focusing on these high-value tasks, businesses can significantly enhance their profitability.

2. Prioritization System: P1 to P4

John introduces a P1 through P4 prioritization system designed to help dispatch and call center teams effectively manage job scheduling. He elaborates:

"We run a P1 through P4 system. Priority one is our most urgent. And what we do is we tag those things red when we see them on the board."
— John Wilson [00:00]

• P1: Most urgent and highest opportunity (e.g., a $2,000 water heater replacement)
• P2 to P4: Decreasing levels of urgency and opportunity

By categorizing jobs in this manner, businesses can ensure that high-value and urgent jobs are addressed promptly, while less critical tasks are rescheduled accordingly. John shares his past frustrations with prioritizing low-ticket jobs over high-ticket ones, highlighting the potential loss in revenue and customer satisfaction.

3. Maximizing Daily Profitability

The hosts discuss strategies to maximize daily profitability by focusing on P1 jobs. John advises:

"We know that they're important, and when they come in, it is dispatch's entire job to maximize the highly urgent, high opportunities."
— John Wilson [00:00]

This involves pulling all P1 jobs into the day's schedule and rescheduling lower urgency tasks. John acknowledges that some low-priority jobs may be lost in the process, but the overall benefit to profitability justifies this trade-off.

4. Routing vs. Personnel Optimization

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the choice between optimizing routing and optimizing personnel allocation. John presents the dilemma:

"You have to determine which one you're going to do because you can't do both."
— John Wilson [00:00]

• Routing Optimization: Strategizing the most efficient travel routes to minimize time and fuel costs.
• Personnel Optimization: Assigning the best-performing technicians to the highest-value jobs, even if it means longer travel times.

John shares his personal experience with technicians traveling extensive distances for lucrative opportunities and the challenges that come with it. He suggests that the decision between routing and personnel optimization depends on the nature of the business. For example:

"If you're in backflow route might be the most impactful thing that you can do but if you're in a sales role you should always be optimizing right tech right job."
— John Wilson [00:00]

5. Implementing and Training Your Team

Effective implementation of the prioritization and optimization systems requires comprehensive training. John emphasizes:

"You need to train your team so that they know the rules that you're looking for them to follow."
— John Wilson [00:00]

By ensuring that the dispatch and call center teams understand and adhere to the prioritization system, businesses can consistently maximize their daily profits. Clear guidelines and consistent training are pivotal in maintaining operational efficiency and achieving long-term success.

6. Conclusion: Building a Sustainable Profit Maximization Strategy

John wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of a structured approach to scheduling and job prioritization:

"That is how you optimize your schedule for profit."
— John Wilson [00:00]

By implementing a robust prioritization system and making strategic decisions about routing and personnel, businesses can enhance their profitability while reducing operational stress. This structured approach not only maximizes daily earnings but also sets the foundation for scalable and sustainable business growth.

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For more insights and actionable advice on scaling your home service business, visit www.ownedandoperated.com.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to double your profit. Today we're talking about optimizing your schedule for profit. Now this is something every business should tackle literally as soon as you can. What this means is we are going to prioritize our highest opportunity, highest margin jobs. In plumbing, that's a water heater. In H vac, that's a no heat or a no cool. In electric, that's a no power. And in drains, that's a clogged drain. In any of those four scenarios, that could be a two to $15,000 project. So high urgency, high opportunity. When we were smaller and we were still figuring this out, it used to drive me nuts because I would sit there and I would watch a water heater call come in and we would schedule it for the next available, which could be two or three days from now. And in that same time, we were keeping drippy faucets, low urgency jobs that were also low ticket. And we were instead saying, hey, you're more important. You $100 repair that this person does not care that much about versus the $2,000 water heater that someone cares a lot about. So early on in your journey, you need to build a prioritization system that your dispatch team and call center team can follow so that you can prioritize your highest urgency, highest opportunity jobs. We run a P1 through P4 system. Priority one is our most urgent. And what we do is we tag those things red when we see them on the board. We know that they're important, and when they come in, it is dispatch's entire job. Maximize the highly urgent, high opportunities. So we're going to maximize today. We're going to pull up all the P1s into today and we're going to reschedule the jobs that are low urgency. It doesn't matter if we lose some jobs. You have to build a system that your team can follow so that you can maximize your day every single day. Now, the other thing that you can do that we haven't talked about yet is you can optimize your routing or optimize your person. Now, these are really important concepts and you have to determine which one you're going to do because you can't do both. I have a wide service area. Our technicians might drive up to 90 minutes for the right opportunity. Now what happens if I Send a technician 90 minutes over here, but the next call is 90 minutes over here? Should I do that? Should I not do that? What if the next call comes 15 minutes away? Should I do that? Should I not do that? That's the decision you have to make. The two sides of the spectrum of dispatching and optimizing your schedule for margin are am I going to base route based or am I going to lean into the highest performers and continue to feed the highest performers? Some of it is determined by the type of business you're in. If you're in backflow route might be the most impactful thing that you can do but if you're in a sales role you should always be optimizing right tech right job. So it's not just enough to optimize the board for P1 through 4 you also need to optimize who is actually going on those calls. But that is a big decision on how you're going to dispatch and you need to train your team so that they know the rules that you're looking for them to follow. That is how you optimize your schedule for profit. Thanks for tuning in and make sure you like and sub so you don't miss the rest of the series.