Communication Tools for Any Trade: A Simple Blueprint for Getting Along at Work

By Layton Park and Myrna Park

This book is not only a page turner; it also shares some very valuable information. I look forward to the follow up adventures of Joe and Betty.
D. Dale, Owner, Wayne Manufacturing

Over the years, Joe and his wife, Betty, have built a successful plumbing business, but its at a crisis pointall because of interpersonal relationships. Joe faces an ultimatum from his managers: fire Betty, or they will quit.

In Communication Tools for Any Trade, authors Layton Park and Myrna Park tell Joe and Bettys story while exploring the key skills and traits of successful business and personal relationships. Using information gained from their personal experiences of starting and running businesses and from examples encountered consulting with clients, the Parks present a guidebook for overcoming communication challenges that many businesses face.

Focusing on the importance of both verbal and nonverbal communication, Communication Tools for Any Trade presents an informative guide to DISC behavioral styles and values in business and explores ways to recognize, remember, and use them. This business parable provides insight in the how and why of relationships and illustrates the fundamental principles necessary to succeed in business and in life.

Learn more at www.chameleoncommunicator.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475967326

Layton Park

Layton grew up in the shadows of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, near Rocky Mountain House, the most westerly fur trading post in a bye-gone era. He spent his early years on ranches and farms in the area and developed an interest in his family history. In the mid-1800s a neighbour murdered Harrison Caton, Layton's great-grandfather, near Bates County Missouri. Following the murder, his grandfather, with his two brothers and two sisters, headed for western Canada where they homesteaded in 1903, and where one cousin still farms. Park was inspired to capture and preserve his ancestor’s experiences and began researching the family history. After moving to Vernon, BC, in the course of that research, Layton discovered the story of a Chinese miner who murdered Aeneas Dewar, a tax collector. When he dug deeper, Layton was amazed at the treatment of Chinese miners at the time and had the brilliant notion to combine the two stories. Kola, his first historical novel, is the result. Layton enjoys writing in Kelowna, BC, and has written many other books and short stories which you can explore on his website.

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Copyright © 2013

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-6734-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-6733-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-6732-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013900789

iUniverse rev. date: 2/20/2013

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Fire the wife?

2. The banker

3. A fish stinks from the head

4. The golf game

5. The questions

6. Leigh and the banker

7. Red is fire

8. The next step

9. Meet the chameleon

10. Showdown

11. The chameleon at work

12. Dissecting the chameleon

13. The banker’s visit

14. All is quiet

Epilogue

Just the facts, ma’am

Recognizing disc

Author biographies

ALSO BY LAYTON PARK

Get Out of Your Way                 Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd

Chicken Coop for a Rubber Sole                 iUniverse, Inc.

Spirit Doctor                 iUniverse, Inc.

If You Are Going to Lead … Don’t Spit!                 iUniverse, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

The entrepreneur is a risk taker who blazes new trails in business. However, there is a lot to be said for recognizing the paths of other trailblazers and incorporating myriad experiences into a dynamic business model.

With the combination of education and experience, an enthusiastic ingénue can transform the face of business while still relying on traditionally effective models.

This book will examine the styles of various leaders, how they communicate, and how to communicate more effectively with them.

Layton Park entered into business in 1975 with a design-build company, which quickly expanded to include over eighty direct employees and several subcontractors.

Myrna Park started a real estate company in 1985 that also quickly grew to become one of the leading companies in the area, employing over 25 percent of the real estate agents in her market.

In 1996 they sold both companies and began a company, Max-U.com Inc., and worked in association with Brian Tracy offering courses in personal development, sales, and leadership.

In 2000 they became certified with TTI of Scottsdale, Arizona, using their tools for assessing behavioural and motivational psychology.

Today Max-U.com Inc. works with organizations around North America, both small entrepreneurs and multinationals, as business analysts in the areas of strategic planning, communication, leadership, and succession planning.

Layton is a member of IIBA® and has the designation of Certified Business Analysis Professional™*.

Myrna and Layton are certified with TTI as Certified Professional Behaviour Analysts (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analysts (CPVA).

Myrna is also a Certified Professional TTI TriMetrix Analyst and a Certified Professional TTI DNA Analyst.

Today’s entrepreneurs face stiff local competition, higher operating costs, more government regulations, big box stores, and offshore and online competitors, all a part of the new economy. Despite this competition, entrepreneurs are starting new businesses and succeeding.

Successful small business owners recognize the weaknesses of large companies and become more efficient in those areas. Nowhere is that more evident than in the trades. This story is about one such tradesman and his wife who started a small plumbing business out of necessity and succeeded only to find and conquer new challenges.

Large corporations are challenged to offer the personal service of smaller companies. They often cannot have the same person working with a customer from one contact to another, and the real decision maker is often not available to discuss any concerns with the clients. To overcome this disadvantage, larger companies have to ramp up their customer service levels and train service staff to engage with the customers, creating a sense of ownership and caring.

This was recently brought home to me when my air-conditioning quit working and the house became a boiler. I talked to the owner of a large local mechanical firm on Wednesday who said he could get someone to fix it right away. Friday I was told that they were backed up and it would have to be Monday. Early Monday morning a fellow showed up who said he had just completed his first-year apprenticeship and appeared somewhat unsure of himself. After two hours of talking on the phone to the service manager several times and testing everything, I was told that the compressors were burned out but should be covered by warranty. If so, the bill for the labour would only be $1,150.

The confidence of the fellow made me feel uneasy, so I called a referral for a one-man operator, who came over immediately to look at it and had it fixed within the hour for $110.

I know the owner of the first company is an honest, hard-working businessman who wants to offer great service, but in this case my referrals will go to the second company because the one-man operator doesn’t have the people problems the bigger company does. This advantage, however, is also his disadvantage when it comes to bigger work or expanding his business.

Once we understand that both big and small business have advantages and disadvantages, we can identify our strengths and weaknesses and formulate a plan to capitalize on both.

Big-box stores have had a huge impact on business over the past few years, so smaller businesses have had to adapt in order to remain profitable.

Despite the doom and gloom presented daily in the media, there has never been a better time to be in business.

This book is how one man, Joe, faced the challenge of losing his job and turned it into an opportunity to create a successful new plumbing business. His small company grew quickly, expanding into similar products and services, such as heating, air conditioning, retail sales of plumbing and heating fixtures, and a separate service department, without the support of a franchise or a proven system to follow. Now Joe faces his biggest challenge.

This story has been drawn from our own experiences in starting and running businesses, from examples encountered in consulting with our clients, and from many of the programs developed to face such issues.

Using this wealth of resources as a foundation, Joe is able to overcome his problem. We trust this story will give you insight into how to creatively overcome the challenges in your own business, no matter what size or in what industry.

This book began as a serialized column created for a business magazine. The story was written to demonstrate some of the business and interpersonal skills and techniques Max-U has been using with clients across North America. We trust that using a story format will make the information more entertaining and memorable.

This particular book is about the plumbing and heating business, but the principles apply to all businesses. We want to thank many of our larger customers for helping launch this book by buying it in bulk to give as a gift to employees, suppliers, and associated businesses.

This story about Joe was in our public columns five years before the 2008 US presidential election made another Joe the Plumber famous; however, we decided that our Joe was too old to go through a name change.

We trust that you will find the information useful in further developing your business regardless of its size or its purpose.

Layton and Myrna

* IIBA®, the IIBA® logo, BABOK® and Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® are registered trademarks owned by International Institute of Business Analysis. These trademarks are used with permission of International Institute of Business Analysis.

TTI, Certified Professional Behaviour Analysts (CPBA), Certified Professional Values Analysts (CPVA), Certified Professional TTI TriMetrix® Analyst, and Certified Professional TTI DNA Analyst are all certifications granted by TTI Performance Systems, Ltd.

FIRE THE WIFE?

Fire Betty? Joe muttered to himself. I can’t fire my own wife. Joe ran his fingers through his slightly greying thick hair. Although the dark black hair had seemed to fade a bit and the firm muscles he once had were now getting a little soft, he was still a good-looking man. It had been eighteen years since he started his plumbing business and eight since he last worked in the field himself. Despite his success, this was one of those times when he wished he were still on the tools working by himself, not having to deal with employees.

How can I keep my employees from leaving? The thought kept running through his mind. He not only needed the four managers who had given him this ultimatum, but he liked them and even understood their frustration. But asking him to choose between them and Betty was unbelievable.

I thought I had faced just about every problem a businessman can face, he thought as he closed his eyes and leaned back into the comfortable reed chair. Joe was so wrapped up in thought that he didn’t notice the white stucco wall behind him reflecting the warmth of the early spring sun. Nor had he seen the full palette of vibrant flowers surrounding the attractive deck at the Lakeview Resort. They sweetened the transition from the man-made structure to the soft and natural beauty of the surrounding grounds, lit by sunlight filtering down through the tall pines.

The magnificent jewel-like lake carved out of the rugged British Columbia landscape reflected the high hills and mountains, providing a surreal backdrop.

The sunshine warming the deck had long since melted the ice in Joe’s tea. Still oblivious to the magnificence of the world around him, Joe continued to mull over this latest business challenge.

Joe had never planned to own his own business, but when the pulp mill closed and he couldn’t find another job in town, he was faced with three options: find a different career, move to a job in another community, or start his own shop.

Joe had ruled out changing careers—he couldn’t think of anything he would rather do. He was a journeyman plumber by trade and enjoyed the work.

Betty and he felt that they had invested years building a meaningful life with good friends and family here, so they were reluctant to move away. Nor could they agree on a place where they would prefer to live. Joe liked the small town and the closeness to the wilderness. He could be out hunting or fishing in just a few minutes. The winter offered excellent trails for riding his snow machine or cross-country skiing. He loved being able to walk down Main Street and talk to more than half the people he met or walk into the coffee shop and sit at a table full of other locals who always welcomed him.

Betty also had many good friends and now that they had been married for two years was beginning to think that this would be a great place to raise children.

There was no plumbing shop in town, and the community had come to depend on Joe to moonlight in the evenings and on weekends while working at the mill. The extra money had come in handy to pay down their mortgage and for the few toys a guy needed to enjoy the great outdoors. Joe had been so busy that he’d had to refer work to his coworkers, so he felt that the transition into his own plumbing business would be easy. Still, his thought was,