Restoration Work: Answering the #YouCouldntPayMeTo Call
How would you fill in the blank?
As I perused Twitter this morning on the hunt for a good topic for a blog post, I noticed an interesting trending hashtag: #YouCouldntPayMeTo. It appears the hashtag got its start after former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced her endorsement of Donald Trump in his bid for the presidency. People announced you couldn’t pay them to vote for Trump.
I could talk politics all day… but I’ll spare you the grief, and get to the point.
This hashtag did get me thinking about the restoration industry. Isn’t it, frankly, based on the foundation that YOU are getting paid to do what others won’t? Or… what they won’t know how to do correctly? How many people out there would say you couldn’t pay them to clean up a crime scene? Or you couldn’t pay them to put in the work it takes to clean up after a meth lab? The list goes on and on… You’re doing what the “general population” won’t touch, and most of you are happy to do it! Congrats, that means you are in the right business.
However, like Annissa Coy’s latest column drives home, there is a time when you need to draw the line yourself. It might not be because of the kind of work demanded of you, but there are a lot of other facets to the industry where you might be hesitant.
Maybe your sentence sounds something like this:
- “You couldn’t pay me to… work with ____ insurance company because they aren’t good at following through with quick payments.”
- “You couldn’t pay me to… work with Aaron, that adjuster from so-and-so insurance company. His lack of communication and tendency to approve less than is necessary puts us in a tough spot with homeowners since the adjuster won’t approve payment to have it done right.”
- “You couldn’t pay me to… hire a millennial. They are too unreliable and entitled.” (Yes, this really happened! Read the story here.)
It’s likely you base your customer service on a “yes ma’am” and “yes sir” mentality. And while that’s fantastic for 99.9% of scenarios out there, it doesn’t have to apply every single time. Just as it is okay to say no in your personal life, it is okay to say no as a company, too!
If your gut tells you something isn’t right with a certain job when you’re scoping it out, consider if you should say no – or have a serious conversation with certain parties involved in the claim to talk about concerns before any contract is signed.
Now it’s your turn. Finish the sentence: “You couldn’t pay me to ____.”
