Friday, September 7, 2007

Nexstar: Amway for contractors

Nexstar puts on a great show. And belive me when I say you pay for it. They have a business system that works! It is a surefire way to steal $$$$$$$ from hardworking, struggling small business owners. And it works!

If you want their system to work for you.............you need to have enough money not to need their system. Membership runs about a grand a month for professional support(dodging and avoiding questions, not giving definitive answers on anything) on how to make your business profitable. Then the software required costs about $10K plus a hefty monthly fee(on top of the grand you are already spending). The system is not designed to work with out this accounting software.

Flat rate price books: another must have....... each tech must have a Nexstar flat rate book @ $500 each. These books are quite incomplete leaving out many everyday repairs. It's always nice to have your tech, who is putting on this great show for the new customer, fumble thru the pretty illustrationsin the flat rate book only to have to make up a number, quickly hide this $500 book, and hope the customer forgets as fast as you pulled that number out your ass (300% higher than your competitions price at that).

Better still if you are a full service company You have to spend $500 on your HVAC flat rate book, then $500 on your electrical F/R book, the $500 more on your plumbing F/R book.

Price objection. The fun part. Try to convince your customer that the 5amp automotive fuse (like the spare one you have in your glove box) will cost them $305.00 all inclusive. So now that you spent 25 minutes getting there. 5 minute filling out your pre visit check list over and hour presenting and then diagnosing there problem you have to try to get your dispatch fee out of them. Oh yeah since you offer 100% satifaction of course there not satisfied and refuse to pay

Then there is the required bootcamp for another few grand and lost time from your customers(your only income).

Then you need to fly your entire staff, set them up in the 5star convention centers in different locations around the country to attend various schools.

I'm sure all new small business' can afford to drop $100,000.00 on schools, flights, food, lodging, software, forms, tapes, dvds, books, posters, confetti.

I know if I had an extra $100k laying around I probably would not be asking for help. Not like they give you answers you can use. If your even lucky enough to get an email responce or return phone call.

"How does that sound?"

20 comments:

Gaehesh said...

Sour Grapes, Sounds like your have too small of a company (or vision for your business)to harvest the benefits from the organization. Might be better if you sell your company and work for someone else. Ive seen many companies increase in size (employees, customers and sales)25-50-100% per year and be able to double the salaries of their employees. Implementation is the key to sucess. Can do, will do, done!

Unknown said...

I joined nexstar 3 years ago. At the time my business was doing about $500k per year. This year I am on pace to do $2.6 million. It's too bad you gave up.

Regards,
Justin carrol
Perfect home services
Naperville, il

Rick Gilles said...

we use the Nexstar system with great sucess. in three years from 3-4 techs to 9-10 techs, and have doubled our revenue. Sounds like not enough effort on your part. Follow the system it works.

Regards,
Rick Gilles
Marquette, MI

Anonymous said...

There are some people who should never own a business, I believe this blogger is one of them. He will likely never be successful, unless he changes his attitude. Not even sure how you can make those types of accusations towards an organization that is not only member owned but also offers a 100% money-back guarantee FOR 6 MONTHS.....
There is no software you have to buy and there are no books you have to buy. You can use quickbooks and excel if you choose. And if you have a printer and some time to do a little design work you can print your own price books.
There is no magic pill either, you have to want to succeed, you have to want to really serve your customers better than they have ever been served before, and above all else you have to put in the work.
Nexstar is just a vehicle to help you get there faster, that is unless you have an MBA and a vast array of service contracting experience.

Marco Plumbing Ltd said...

jj

Rob said...

I have just passed my first 6 months as a Nexstar member and have take a number of courses, went to 2 owner meetings and have been working with my assigned business coach. My Business has gone from loosing bucket loads of money to making money and building a sure fire system of success no Magic just hard work and fantastic proven direction.
Nexstar would suck if your Lazy uncommitted and are happy just surviving or getting to retirement with Nothing to show for all the hard work of running a business.
Not Me sick struggling and just getting by.
Thanks Nexstar your organization is changing lives for the better.
Rob Steier
Pro Solutions Plumbing and Heating

Unknown said...

I have been in Nexstar for about nine months and I have nothing but good things to say about them. Have you ever thought how much traditional educations cost? What type of a guarrantee do they give you 6 months? Take some time to consider what it would take for your business to be profitable? Most people think that their business needs more money or stuff when in fact what most businesses need is more brains. Nexstar is a method for educating contracting business owners. Now consider this if a person is capiable of running a business and earning lets say 100k per year or more how much do you have to pay him or her to teach you? Our sales are up 30% YTD and our profits are almost double even after paying Nexstar for their education and the travel that goes along with it. I say it is a win. Good luck with your business and remember the thinking that got you where you are won't get you where you want to be.

Fastest Plumber said...

Maybe if you joined Nexstar you would have an extra $100 K. I joined nexstar and I certainly do now. And let me tell you this, I didn't when I joined. I took the leap of faith and I can't tell you how it changed my life and the life of my entire family. I am so happy with my life and I owe a great deal of it to Nexstar. Don't listen to this idiot who is broke because he can't runa business. Nexstar will change your life!!!

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Bone said...

Seriously. I've been with Nexstar/Contractors 2000 from the beginning 1992. This organization is MEMBER OWNED. Meaning you the member own it! You the owner directs the staff to deliver what you want delivered to help you run your business profitably.

Nexstar doesn't do the work for you! You have to do the work. Stop your whining and look yourself in the mirror.

Right there... That's the problem here. You have time to change and Nexstar and the Networking with contractors are the place to make that change.

Or not and keep blaming someone else for your problem. Man up!

b said...

I just wish other members could see how their precious dollars are being spent by these amatuers and all the atrocities they committ
It's a good thing for them they're aren't strike rules like in baseball, a few people would have been 'out' so long ago
also they've been pretty mean to some pregnant employees and new mothers
They have hired, harbored and tortured mentally handicapped people - and not through the proper agencies or channels and had not secured gov't subsidies
Unbelievable how many "Directors" there are at such a small company
It's basically and endorsement for being a fellow criminal
They must have some pretty powerful blackmail to still be around

Crooked enough to be politicians
i KNOW things

Say hi to your legal team while you guys sit scratching your heads and figuring out how to get me, ya bunch of jackals
-----------------
Dear Admin, do not supply this ip unless they have legal documentation
I don't want them to be able to retaliate against us directly
anyways they have a long list of enemies

Wrenchturner said...

I work for a company that went with them this year I'm not a fan of my bosses asking me what I do in my spare time and who I do it with. Nexstar is creepy.

Unknown said...

Nexstar lost me as a viewer I'll never watch NBC again I demand a refund I'm not paying for a station I can't watch!

Anms123 said...
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Anms123 said...
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Anms123 said...

I am a technician that has worked for 2 similarly priced companies throughout NJ for the last 4 years.

I have been doing electrical, hvac install and tiling in NJ for 14 years and recently was exposed to a different business structure. What I came to understand is that there is a program called Nexstar that offers businesses a full structure on how to operate. Their promise is to grow the business and offer different plans depending on how much assistance you need.

One of the problems I see with this structure is that their prices are through the roof (100% - 400%+ higher than highest average) and it is usually a cut throat environment for the technicians and customers. Profits rise greatly with these Nextar companies, but profit margin doesn't change much. This tells me that a lot of the money is going somewhere and Nexstar is a big corporation that probably has a lot to do with this. One positive is this structure may help raise low pricing and quality concerns throughout the industry. Both of these companies did pride themselves on going the extra mile for the customer and offered lifetime warranties.

The issue I saw is that it is very conflicting for a technician to be told to go the extra mile for a customer and also be drilled all day every day on revenue performance or risk losing credibility and even your job. First of all, to keep your job you need to be bringing in at least 6-10k a week in revenue. Minimum goals are 30-50k a month and they praise the techs through company wide emails that are knowingly taking advantage of customers and bringing in 80-100k+ a month. Some of these techs will say you need a full replacement when there is most definitely other solutions. There is a very basic price structure but you are encouraged to up-sell in every aspect of your day. Consistency is an issue if one tech can sell a switch replacement at $200 and the next at $350. I am a very honest person and an extremely hard worker. For me to make an honest living at these companies, I had to work twice as hard and charge less per job just so I could sleep at night knowing I didn't take advantage of customers while keeping at the revenue standards to keep my job.

Technicians hourly rate is lower and less important because this system is based on revenue performance and bonus. There is a significant payout for hitting your weekly or monthly bonus numbers. You can have a great group of technicians, managers and owner, but this Nexstar structure creates a cut throat environment that puts this performance factor way ahead of pricing jobs properly, customer satisfaction, or doing the right thing in any given situation.

Try to find a reputable company that is within New Jersey's average price range that takes pride in their work and are dependable. This is not an easy task and can be found in companies with a single truck or bigger scale operations. There can be a mix of professional and less than professional technicians in any given company. In my opinion, putting the customer first and doing good work at a reasonable price will sustain business far more than this structure which seems to be focused on lining the pockets of the higher ups. Lifetime warranty doesn't matter as much if you have people doing the work focusing on quality. Say this Nexstar company comes in, does the job in 1 day (until 1 am or later sometimes) and comes back 15 times after the install because they rushed for the revenue and things keep going wrong. Was it worth the extra 10k? It happens more often than it should with these Nexstar based companies. Compare that to a company that took 2 extra days to install and perhaps offered a 10 year warranty and you never needed them back.

Anms123 said...

To give one last perspective, these Nexstar companies more often hire salesman over technically inclined tradesman. Comfort Advisors selling hvac installs are paid on commission only and asked to convert 30% of leads given. These advisors make 120k-200k+ annually for doing this job. What company says the goal is to get 3 out of 10 jobs quoted. This means that their pricing is so much higher than the competition that they still win with a 3 out of 10 conversion while paying advisors there high commission. The service departments average around 50-70% but its not often a customer would become a repeat buyer. The only reason I had steady repeat work was because I wasn't pricing to their standard and was working twice as hard to meet revenue numbers.

These are some of my opinions and I hope they help people make educated decisions in hiring a company or who they want to work for.