Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

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Monday, September 19th, 2011 by victoria

Everywhere you look, people are looking at life and business in an entirely new way. We all realize that we have to invest in learning new things to give us the best chance of thriving in this environment. To continue to grow, to realize profits, and to see referrals increase once again, every remodeler should step back and take a fresh look at the business for ways to add value–and then take that message to the streets. Below, industry expert and long-time Remodeling columnist, Linda Case,  shares one interesting way to look at business today. . .

Someone e-mailed me after I used the expression “finding the pony in the manure pile” asking what in heavens name that meant.  It comes from an apocryphal story of why the young boy continued to shovel manure with such enthusiasm.  He was looking for the pony.

It’s similar to the  “making lemonade from lemons” expression.  The economy has dealt us either a manure pile or lemons depending on your sensibilities and the question is how will we view it?  As a tragedy?  As an opportunity?  As a challenge?

There is really no choice.  There’s no need to be a talented fortuneteller to know that there is no way we will return to the “good old days” in the next couple of years no matter who gets in office.  So let’s grab this opportunity to

  • Reinvent our companies by examining our systems to be sure they are streamlined and customer-satisfying. For many companies, the old way of doing business does not fit their new smaller jobs, lower closing rate.  Start with a fresh piece of paper and redesign your company organizational chart and roles for today.
  • Remove or retrain our B and C players so that we can honestly say that we are the A team.  Isn’t that what we as professional remodelers are selling?  There are great people available today looking for great jobs.  Don’t miss this opportunity to rebuild your team with the absolute best people you can find.
  • Sharpen our sales and marketing skills.  Nothing happens in your company until a lead arrives.  You must become expert in the new realities of sales and marketing.
  • Add value to our services by sharpening the pencil of everyone who works on our team including subs and vendors.  Let’s face it, we know this is a difficult competitive environment and we are working in an industry that has been very error-prone and inefficient in delivery of projects.  It’s time to change.
  • Create a realistic plan for 2012 by developing a budget you and your staff believe in.  Hoping it will work is not a plan.  Prove it by putting it on paper.  What is a realistic volume?  What is a realistic gross profit?  What is a realistic overhead cost?  And what will your net be?  Yes, I said net.  Line item everything.

Truth is, it isn’t lemons.  It is a manure pile.  Now let’s use that manure to make that beautiful compost that encourages everything to grow.

If you need help to make the most of today’s reality and continue to provide for your company and your family, give us a call today. For the last 30 years, we’ve helped remodelers build strong, consistently profitable businesses through one-on-one business coaching, our peer group, Roundtables, the largest in the industry, and our variety of educational and training programs. There’s nothing better than working with experienced industry experts to catapult you into a better situation. 301-490-5620 RemodelersAdvantage.com

Contact us today.

Posted in Business Growth, Leadership, Marketing | No Comments »

PowerTip: Your #1 Tool for Maximizing Profits

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 by victoria

Judith Miller is known as the industry’s “numbers” expert.  She uses her in-depth knowledge of remodeling company operations and financial statements to help remodeling company owners “own” the numbers of their businesses and make improvements from what they find.  Judith believes that a deep understanding of company financials is the foundation for consistent, long term success. We agree.  Below, Judith shares her thoughts on how to identify priority areas for your continual improvement efforts.

Over the years of working with remodeling contractors, some simple patterns have become apparent.  One remodeler’s strong interest in people leads to success in sales.  Another’s love for design produces award-winning projects.  Both companies can enjoy a certain level of success and stability over time.

But to develop a larger company complete with beautiful office space, internal staff and consistent profitability sufficient to develop a nest egg for retirement demands an owner with another attribute – a love of numbers.

Only by digging through job cost reports, understanding financial statements and developing trend-lines for current concerns can an owner truly understand, protect and forecast company profitability. Your financial statements are truly your #1 tool for maximizing profits.

Embracing this role is not a task for the faint-hearted;  neither can it be delegated in the early stages of company development.  The owner must understand certain vital components of the business and measure them continually.

To many whose interests lie elsewhere, the task seems overwhelming.  But long-term success rests on determining not just what to measure, but when.  Some indicators, such as cash flow, merit weekly tracking, others, such as gross profit margin, are job dependent so are measured throughout the course of a project.   Monthly and quarterly tracking suffice for still others, such as accounts receivable and payable turnover ratios.

Certain problems quickly point out where you should put your focus:

  • If vendors and subs continue to hound you for payment, then maximizing cash flow should be your number one priority.
  • If your produced gross profit margin is always more than 2 or 3 points different from what was estimated (either way), then an in-depth look at estimating and production jumps to the top spot on the priority list.
  • When sales are erratic and you complete one job only to wait for the next, marketing–including the analysis of lead flow and closing ratios– bears scrutiny.

Just as the emergency room crew determines which patient to handle first, you must learn to use your financials and other performance metrics to  identify which problem should have top priority and then perform ‘triage’ on that area quickly.  Triage looks at the current situation, establishes relative importance and operates ‘first on the worst’, then moves on to the next. It’s a never ending cycle that continues the life of your business – just as one variable is stabilized, another takes on greater importance.

The result of this focus on continual improvement is company performance that improves and improves, delivering greater stability, greater profits, and greater results overall.  Treat this process with the importance it deserves and you will earn the life you deserve.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Management, Financial Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: Reduce Stress and Prepare for Tomorrow

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 by victoria

One of our most popular business coaches is Paul Winans.  Many of you know Paul from his days as President of NARI or from his many blog posts and articles in the industry press.  Today, many of our members call on Paul to share practical steps they can take to improve their company performance.

Many times, these steps include a thoughtful assessment of your business situation and tactics to reduce stress and help understanding that it won’t always be like this.  If you’re feeling burnt out and overwhelmed, listen to Paul as he shares what he learned from being a remodeling company owner just like you.

Tomorrow Will Come

In my work as a consultant to remodelers I am hearing from clients about the challenges they are facing. A downturn looks different in each person’s world. A signed job (or two or three) is canceled. Permitting obstacles delay or prevent a project from starting. Pricing pressures tempt or force the reduction or absence of profit, as work is needed simply to cover overhead. And so on.

It is worth noting that there are remodelers who have work and are doing more than well. Why? To some extent the answer to this question is the same for both situations, both good and not so good. For most remodeling companies, getting the job or not makes a huge difference. If your company does twenty jobs a year and you don’t get 5 in a row that can be devastating. On the other hand, if your company gets an unusually large job the business can be carried for several months until more sales occur. In doesn’t take a lot to make a big difference, one way or the other.

So what can you do?

Consider all possibilities

In general, people tend to get wrapped up in the way things are. The thing is that is just the starting point. Take some time for yourself to reflect on what you would do if…. Many of us never think about such things. We just work a little harder and a little longer thinking it might make the difference.

In the meantime we are miserable, finding very little satisfaction with anything.

Break the patterns and do something different. A client loves to fish but had a hard time finding the time to do so, particularly with the down market he is in. He realized he could take a great client fishing, building the relationship that will translate into more business and referrals, while doing what he loves. What is the equivalent for you?

Live in the present being pulled forward by the future

It is very hard to get up every day and go to work when yesterday was not as successful as you wanted it to be. More of the same old, same old, with likely the same results being realized.

That mindset can cripple your business. You set the tone for your entire company. If you are in sales it is imperative to be focused in a positive way on your future, not being anchored by a yesterday you wished you never experienced. How can you do that without being a wishful thinker?

A client was experiencing real hurdles with his team. They just were not performing the way he thought they could. At the same time, he was not clear about his own goals, the life he wanted for he and his family.

Sales were down. This was before the downturn. Getting people to commit was impossible.  He started getting clear about the life he wanted. He began by doing some simple exercises that got out of his head thoughts that were in there but to which he was not paying much attention. The resulting clarity changed his expectations of his people so that all in the company feel more successful. Clients are signing contracts and the company has work, even when many other companies don’t.

I am not saying it is magic and it works in all cases. I do think that being clear about the point makes you more effective in all areas of your life, not just in business.

For many of us our work is how we define ourselves. After all, we spend most of our working life at work.

Running a small business is very hard, even in the best of times. It does not take much to make it close to impossible to succeed.

I remember in the early 90’s living through a set of circumstances that felt like a perfect storm. Dealing with several difficult remodeling clients, the prospect of no upcoming work in the foreseeable future, and new challenges coming every day: when was it going to end? I was doing everything I could think of and nothing seemed to be working.

I found that stepping away, in even little ways, made a big difference. Carving out some time for me to stop being a remodeler and be a person made me able to be more effective doing what the business needed me to do. For me it was taking walks, reading, spending time with my wife and children, and taking inexpensive short vacations.

You are not your business. Things will get better. What do you want your tomorrow to be? Craft a vision that will pull you forward. And start living it today.

Thanks, Paul!

If you’re looking for an experienced business coach to help you improve the performance of your remodeling business, contact Remodelers Advantage Inc. today.  Our team of coaches are ready to dive in and share the best practices that they have seen work over and over again. Why struggle alone when you can have a business coach to help you become more profitable and productive. To get started, call us at 301-490-5620 x106.

Posted in Business Coaching, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTips: Words of Wisdom from an Industry Guru

Thursday, August 11th, 2011 by victoria

I’ve worked with one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry. Linda Case, for over 20 years and it’s been an unbelievable pleasure.   You’ve been reading her column in Remodeling magazine for even longer and if the notes that we receive from readers are true, Linda’s changed many lives with her words of wisdom. Well, Linda is retiring from the remodeling industry at the end of this year and she’ll be sorely missed. However, you’ll still have a bit of her business savvy to help you build strong, profitable remodeling companies. That’s because she’s compiled a fabulous selection of essays on the topics you need most, and this valuable information will soon be available in her new book, Business Straight to the Heart: The Remodelers Guide to Leadership, Management and Success. Here’s a taste of what promised to be another best seller . . .

Are you wondering what you will do “when you grow up”? Are you feeling blah about your business and where you are in life? Do you wonder if there is more (satisfaction? money? free time? balance? fun?) than you are currently experiencing?

No, this is not a commercial for hair implants, little blue pills, or a singles dating service. It is not uncommon for me to work with remodelers who question the direction they have taken in their business lives. So what do I do? I ask them more questions.

This may sound like a fortune cookie, but I’ve learned over the years that the right answers come from asking the right questions. And the right answers come from reaching back to the bedrock in your life (what you love, what you believe, what is really important to you) and then working forward.

Here are some tried-and-true questions that I use to help elicit answers from clients that can point the way to the company that best suits their abilities and lifestyle. You can use them, too. Just be sure to write down your answers so you can adjust and edit them and return to them in order to mine the information they hold for you. To give you some idea of how your answer might look, I’ve provided a few of the answers recently given by a remodeler in his quest for a better fit with his company.

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a person?

What are your strengths and weaknesses in business?

“I tend to take on too much. I over-commit. I fail to follow through….I am sometimes almost visionary. I am particularly creative, resourceful, and a great problem solver. And I have always been exceptional at bringing in business…but not so good at handling it once I’ve brought it in.”

What do you love to do in your personal life?

What do you love to do at work?

What do you dislike doing at work?

“I hate being disorganized or not on top of my details. I also dislike being hectic, particularly because I tend to lose focus when I am hectic and then I can miss important things. I get tired and bored when doing repetitive tasks….”

If you had just the company you want 3 years from now, what would it look like?

How do you like managing others in your business? Are you good at hiring? At coaching? “I like managing. I can be a good coach, and I can tell people hard things, too, when necessary, usually in a productive way. I do, however, need a good structure to make sure I follow through on all of the details….”

What kind and size of projects please you the most?

What kind of clients (including education level, finances) do you prefer working with?

Do you read business books? How many in a year? If so which have been your favorites?

Do you read trade magazines, trade books, etc.?

How do you view the importance of finances in your company? How do you judge if you are doing well or poorly financially?

“It’s as if I have had blinders on these last 6 years. All I paid attention to was the checkbook balance, my billables, and what I was able to draw out as take-home pay….I understand that to move forward I must discipline myself to pay close and regular attention to the P&L and the balance sheet….”

Each of us can design a company that complements our goals and talents. It takes stepping back, analyzing what is working and what is not, assessing our strengths and weaknesses, and then building a company where our strengths are maximized to their highest impact and value—and one where we love what we do and what we deliver!

And More Questions….

The following is the quickest quiz you’ll ever take. It will take you approximately 10 seconds. If you can answer “yes” to the following three questions, you don’t need to read any further. Pat yourself on the back, for you are a success in business. However, if some of your answers are “no,” keep reading.

1. Do you make a good salary and a net profit that compensates you for the risks you take as owner?

2. Do you work 50 hours a week or less in your business?

3. Are you generally happy in your business?

The last question is undoubtedly the most important but is usually dependent on the first two. So let’s start with money.

1. Can a remodeler make both a good salary and a healthy net profit of 5 to 10%? Absolutely. Is it easy? Not particularly. But it’s not easy to be financially successful in any field. After working with thousands of remodelers, I have learned that turning this critical area around starts with convincing the owner that there is no use staying in their business if they can’t make adequate money (the “stick”) and showing them that others no brighter or more talented than they have conquered this problem (the “carrot”).

This is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Business Straight to the Heart: The Remodelers Guide to Leadership, Managment and Success.  The book is in production and will begin shipping in mid-September.

To tap into more of this knowledge and insight,  join the community of successful remodelers and array of industry experts who are all a  part of Remodelers Advantage. Over 300 remodeling company owners and staff have experienced the difference Remodelers Advantage can make.  Click here to contact us today and see your life improve tomorrow!

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Coaching, Business Growth, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: Dealing with Unpleasant Conversations

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 by victoria

One of the toughest parts of managing for many people happens when they have to talk to an employee, sub, or client about an unpleasant topic — whether it’s underperformance, a disagreement about a bill, or a misunderstanding about a project. Many people don’t know the best strategies for dealing with these tough conversations so what could have been a productive discussion often turns into an angry exchange after which both parties feel betrayed and hurt.

Because most of us don’t know the most effective ways to deal with these tricky conflicts, we do what most people do — simply avoid it! Hey, if you ignore it, maybe it will go away! Unfortunately, that rarely happens and putting it off just makes it worse.

What a difference it would make to our lives if we could all handle these touchy situations with aplomb, elegance and productivity!

Authors Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler, call these situations crucial conversations and, in their book of the same name, identify them as a discussion between two or more people where 1) the stakes are high, 2) opinions vary, and 3) emotions run strong.

That could describe many situations in the remodeling world. Especially since you’re dealing with someone’s home, a direct reflection of the owner, emotions are particularly vulnerable.

In the book, Crucial Conversations, the authors take a very different approach to dealing with conflict. They share the reasons why we act like we do when faced with a problem from the adrenalin rush that muddies our thinking and pushes us to fight aggressively or flee the situation — to the way our minds create angry stories about the other person’s actions which starts us off on the wrong foot altogether.

These human relationship experts believe that we can all learn how to create productive discussions without anger or defensiveness by using a variety of simple strategies.

For example, the authors describe a tendency that most of us have to let our emotions take over when somebody does something that we disagree with. When this happens, we begin to unconsciously invent stories about why the person involved took the action they did. And in these stories we overemphasize the other person’s guilt and assume the worst possible motives while ignoring any good intentions a person may have.

Then, when we approach them to discuss it, we’re walking in with our minds made up and immediately attack! With this approach, we’re acting as our own worst enemies and the chances of getting what we want is severely diminished.

Instead, the authors suggest, if we learn to recognize this pattern, we won’t be drawn into inventing the reasons behind the decision. We’ll understand that we don’t really know why the person did what he or she did – we’re just imagining that we do. All we really know is the action they took. With this mindset, we walk into a conversation trying to explore the reasons behind the action – which more often than not are totally different than the story we have told ourselves. Once we understand the reason behind it, we can work together to come to a solution. No attacking, no defensiveness – just a dialogue between two people who both want things to work.

I highly recommend that we all read this fabulous book and follow the guidelines that it provides.  If we can all learn  improve in the way we approach and address difficult issues that will always be there, we’ll find less stress and greater satisfaction in all aspects of our business.

Posted in Business Coaching, Business Management, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: A Key To Accountability — Company Meetings

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 by victoria
You probably know that industry guru and long-time Remodeling columnist, Linda Case, is the founder of Remodelers Advantage. We were recently talking about the importance of company meetings and below, she shares some thoughts with you.

Meetings.  Are they time-wasters, money-squanderers, gripe sessions, and ill-planned interruptions to actually getting work done?  That’s what many remodelers think.  Consequently, they don’t hold formal meetings even in multi-million dollar companies.

I disagree.  Well-run meetings harness your team to achieve goals and to be accountable for results in their day-to-day roles.  They allow an owner to communicate a uniform message efficiently and build future leaders for the company.

Picture such a meeting.  It’s the weekly Key Management Team Meeting. It is always held Tuesday’s at 8am.  It includes the company owner, the office manager, the sales manager, and the production manager.  Everyone has learned to be there on time because they know the meeting will start right at 8 and they will be embarrassed to walk in late.  They know that it will end by 9:30 and have scheduled their day accordingly.  There are no interruptions for answering phone calls, etc. unless it is a true emergency.  The meeting is facilitated by the company owner working from a written agenda.  But if the company owner is on vacation, the meeting is run by one of the key team.

The office manager has e-mailed the agenda to everyone before the meeting.  She compiles it by checking with each attendee as to whether they have an issue they want to discuss, how much time should be allotted to that issue and how high a priority it is (just in case there is too much on the agenda.)  She arranges the agenda with departmental reports first, ongoing project reports next (they are working on streamlining the handoff from sales to production and each attendee has some “homework” they’ve agreed to bring to the next meeting), and new issues last.

She also makes sure the Flash Report – a concise one page report with key data – has been compiled and copied for each attendee.  It includes leads taken in, sales made, jobs closed, client evaluation scores received, and much more.  The Key Team finds that having this information pre-packaged for the meeting saves considerable time and keeps them focused on the important numbers they want to track.

Once a month, analyzing the latest P & L and Balance Sheet is on the agenda as well as reviewing the company Budget to Actual report.  This meeting is two hours long because the Key Team’s goal for the year is to get better educated about how to read financials and use the information they provide to manage better.  To train themselves, they read and discuss a chapter in a book on financial management for non-financial people and their friendly neighborhood accountant comes in to answer questions and teach a short lesson.

As the meeting progresses, the office manager takes minutes of what has been agreed upon, who will do what by when.  These minutes will be e-mailed to all attendees and the agreements of what will be done by the next meeting are rolled forward into that new agenda.

The facilitator keeps the meeting on task and time and will ask participants who might have gotten off track to work on that later outside the meeting.  Everyone leaves the meeting updated on the state of the entire company, and with a sense of accomplishment that they are invested in the company’s success and that the company is continuously improving.

Yes, this is the picture of the perfect meeting!  But the point is that great meetings don’t just happen – they are the result of organization and planning.  So if your meetings are floundering, make them productive with these seven tools:

  • A clear purpose
  • Guidelines for behavior
  • Written agenda
  • Defined time frame
  • Facilitator
  • Minutes
  • Flash Report – Pre-meeting information gathering

And don’t forget to throw in some fun, celebration and recognition.  They will make good meetings even better.

Thanks, Linda.  We know that regular meetings are one of the best ways to save time. In fact, since we started following the techniques shared in Death by Meeting by Patrick Lincioni, it’s made a dramatic difference in our efficiency and productivity. It will do the same for you. Try it for at least three months. I guarantee you won’t go back.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Business Growth, Business Management, Leadership | No Comments »

PowerTip: Is Head Trash Holding You Back?

Thursday, March 17th, 2011 by victoria

For the last 25 years or so, Linda Case and I have worked with owners of remodeling companies and have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know many of them very well. From time to time, we work with someone who has a hard time accepting that the ideas we are presenting can make a very positive difference in the company. Often it’s because they’re carrying around Head Trash — pre-conceived notions that they believe are truths! Below are some popular forms of Head Trash. Be sure they’re not holding you back!

  • Head Trash #21  If I know the technical part of the business, I can run a great remodeling business.
    This myth has been clearly debunked.  Grab a copy of The E Myth by Michael Gerber if you aren’t convinced.  It’s good you are in the business you love but now you’ve got a whole new boatload of learning to do.

    As the owner of a company, you are much like a pilot making decisions based on her instrument panel readings.  Many of those readouts for you will be financial and will come from having good accounting software run by someone who is knowledgeable.  But the real financial management of the company can’t be delegated.  You don’t have to know the software or bookkeeping details but you do have to know what the numbers mean.  Remember – your technical expertise will be invaluable but your financial knowledge will keep you in business.

  • Head Trash #19   I can’t get that profit margin in MY area.
    Whenever we hear this, we quickly pull out dozens of examples of other remodelers who ARE getting that margin in EVERY market! It can be done. . . but you have to be a superior salesperson and consistently deliver on your promises to get it.  It’s worth the effort to learn how to sell the value that you deliver because it will take you out of the indentured servitude that applies to so many remodelers! You deserve to have a comfortable life and earn the money for which you work so hard. Get rid of this head trash and go get it!
  • Head Trash #16  No one can do the job as well as I can.
    Good thing the founders of Exxon, Walmart, Google and thousands of other businesses weren’t crippled by this thinking.  Where would those companies be now?  You can’t grow until you learn to delegate. And to do that, you need great employees. Believe it or not, they are available and it’s up to you to find them, recruit them and keep them!

    If you’ve been playing sandlot remodeling, picking from the folks you happen upon casually, it’s time to start playing professional remodeling and recruit the best people for each position on your team!  Start with a topnotch job description, assessments that measure skills and behaviors, and an enticing ad. Then interview only the cream of the applicants and prepare ahead of time so that you have strong interview questions at your fingertips.  You’ll improve your hiring substantially.  Take your time during this process and, if you do hire and then find they are not a great fit, quickly release them back to the community.  With a thoughtful process and tools to help, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a fantastic team that will help you grow beyond your dreams.

We’ll share more of the common Head Trash issues in PowerTips to come. Take a step back now and think about your own business and then take any head trash holding you back straight to the mental landfill!

Posted in Business Growth, Leadership, Sales | No Comments »

Ten Steps for Creating a Culture of Commitment and Accountability

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 by victoria

We all say that we want our people to be accountable and responsible for their actions, but are we doing what it takes to achieve these results? Here are my suggestions for building this culture within your remodeling company.

1.) Communicate to everyone that accountability and commitment are important! Then model it! If you’ve made a commitment, do it! Your actions will set the tone for all.

2.) Align every job description to your company’s strategy and goals for the coming year. Ask everyone to commit to a shared vision of results. Then talk about it at every company meeting.

3.) Make accountabilities clear for everyone by using a benchmark for their job. This is a document that lists key accountabilities, results that equal employee success and more. Use it to start a discussion about how each individual contribution matters.

4.) When you onboard new employees, have job-related professional development resources already in place to help them reach their full potential. If you don’t have a list now, work with your new employee to develop one. What skills do they want to improve over time? What resources do they need to help them achieve this goal?

5.) Build accountability into your company culture using “what & by when” goal and task planning. Project management can be very sophisticated, but the bottom line is “who, what, and by when?”

6.) Offer ways for employees to communicate obstacles and request the help or resources they need to achieve their goals. When you listen to them, recognize that what you’re listening to is someone who is committed to producing results. Regular meetings are a key to this sort of communication.

7.) Involve employees in an ongoing dialogue about how they can identify process improvements or otherwise increase the quality of their work and the team’s productivity. Your employees are a wealth of information. Remember to keep an open mind to the ideas they bring to the table. There may be a better way.

8.) Use small “course corrections” on a monthly or as-needed basis to guide employees toward behaviors and practices that are effective for meeting goals. Don’t wait for the annual performance review. You wouldn’t wait until arrival at a destination to notice a wrong turn along the way, would you?

9.) “Catch” people doing something right: Give frequent, honest and positive feedback. As a general rule of thumb, a ratio of five positive interactions to one critical interaction will help managers build an open communication channel with direct reports.

10.) Identify ways to recognize and acknowledge employees company-wide when their actions exemplify an “above and beyond” commitment to company objectives. Success breeds success!

If you’re serious about achieving spectacular results next year, get everyone involved. We can help with job benchmarks, employee coaching tools, recruiting services, onboarding programs and more. These tools can transform the results you’re achieving with your team.

Posted in Administration and Human Resources, Employee Retention, Leadership | No Comments »

Becoming a Great Salesperson: Tools for Staying on Top

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 by victoria

In the past 3 weeks, I’ve heard from six different remodelers who are very concerned because clients are accepting proposals that are priced significantly lower than their own. It can be devastating to one’s morale to have worked for weeks on a detailed remodeling project proposal only to be told that they’re giving the project to the lowest bidder.

This is almost always a bad decision. I’ll bet every one of you can tell a story about a client who did the same thing only to find that change orders were rampant, customer service was nil and the entire experience was a nightmare.
Clients that choose the lowest price rarely get the “deal” they expect.

A reporter for a midwest publication recently called me to comment on this trend and I told him something I don’t think he expected: “Haven’t these homeowners ever heard of the saying — If it looks too good to be true, it probably is? The homeowners are causing a great deal of the problem because they’re pushing remodelers to cut so much that they can’t deliver the experience that they know clients expect.”

I mean really, what do homeowners expect when they accept a proposal that is tens of thousands of dollars lower than the next?- in many cases, that amount is lower than the legitimate costs of remodeling professionals. Do they really think that the costs for these jobs vary that much from company to company? Seeing significantly lower numbers should be a huge red flag to the consumer. But in many cases, they see the projected savings and all reason goes to the side.

So, one important tactic to overcome this trend is to become an outstanding sales person — someone who knows how to communicate the value of the job, the value of a great customer experience, and the value of working with an established, knowledgable company.

What have you done to improve your selling skills lately? Our Remodelers Advantage members are sharing information, listening to sales training teleseminars, participating in webinars, and searching out the information they need to really ramp up the effectiveness of their sales ability. Many are participating in Sandler Sales Training or other professional sales training programs. At Remodelers Advantage, we’re putting more and more emphasis on marketing, and sales throughout our community.

Improving sales skills is not a silver bullet and it’s not going to have an impact overnight, but it’s time to realize that selling skills (not aggressive, hard selling techniques, but consultative, relationship-building tactics) are going to be your strongest tool to overcome the bad apples who are consistently underpricing the market. That is, until they go out of business.

Posted in Leadership, Sales | No Comments »

Author Bo Burlingham Says, We Can All Have “The Knack”

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 by victoria

Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, and our keynote presenter at the Summit, is the perfect fit for our audience of motivated business owners. For years, he’s been working with small business owners of all kinds to help them become successful. Recently, he teamed up with another Inc. columnist, Norm Brodsky, wrote a great book called Street Smarts: How Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up.

Here’s a quote from Bo’s newest book. . .

“Indeed, I believe it’s such mental habits (habits that he describes in his book) that allow people to become successful entrepreneurs. I believe most people can develop the habits of mind I’m talking about and use them to acquire the wherewithal to live whatever kind of life they want. Not that every person will be successful to the same degree or in the same way. In business, as elsewhere, some individuals have God-given gifts that allow them to play the game better than others. We can’t all be Tiger Woods, or Picasso, or Shakespeare, but anybody can learn how to play golf, or paint, or write a sonnet, and we can all learn how to be financially self-sufficient as well.”

I totally agree with this concept and see over and over that it’s the business owners that look outside themselves to continually learn and create smart habits that are the people who flourish. We can all be there and the message at the Summit is how to do it!

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