Business Development

Why It’s Critical to Invest in The Next Generation with Andrew Schmidt – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

The labor shortage has been a frequent topic on this show, and this episode is going to join the ranks.  Guest Andrew Schmidt is here to talk about AMEK’s apprentice and internship program, and the importance of investing in future generations.

Andrew and his twin brother started their business as roofing installers in 1996, and have grown into a leading design-build firm in Minneapolis and St Paul. They have vacillated over the years, from employing and training carpenters to using all subcontractors. Currently, AMEK operates a hybrid model of carpenters and subcontractors when the job dictates it.

Victoria, Mark and Andrew talk more about:

  • Hiring the right people
  • The training and development process
  • Creating an engaged culture
  • And more…

Cultivating Growth: Integrating Employee Development into Your Business Strategy with Peg Buehrle – [PowerTips Unscripted] S5 E8

Today’s episode of PowerTips Unscripted features Peg Buehrle as a guest. During the show, she discusses the significance of team development for business growth. The growth of a business depends on the growth of its key leaders and their respective teams. Therefore, it is crucial to have a development plan for each team member. Peg will shed light on how to ensure that this remains a top priority.

Peg is a co-managing partner of ActionCOACH Columbus, the co-author of The Honest Truth about Leadership, and an internationally recognized speaker. She has 17 years of coaching experience and has helped hundreds of businesses grow. Peg is also a Remodelers Advantage consultant and specializes in team development. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment, click here: https://remodelersadvantage.com/coaching/

Peg, Victoria, and Mark talk more about:

  • Common omissions that business owners have about their teams
  • What gets in the way of business owners of actually doing a development plan
  • How do you create the discipline to make sure you execute your people plan?
  • And more…

Using Virtual Reality to Grow Sales and Profits with Chris Katkish – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

Virtual reality creates immersive environments in real time. For remodelers, that means your clients could preview and even “walk-through” their projects to see if they like what they’re seeing. 

Guest Chris Katkish says VR can help remodelers streamline their sales and design process, trim the length of the sales cycle, and boost production efficiency by reducing change orders. All of which leads to more sales and more profit.

In this episode, Chris talks to Victoria and Mark about using VR technology to help clients confidently make decisions more quickly in the sales and design process.

Chris is the general manager of InSite Builders and Remodeling in Bethesda, MD. The three owners of InSite have partnered in a company called Limitless Virtual Reality, which enables CAD designs to be viewed in VR.

InSite uses VR as a visualization tool to get concepts across to homeowners. Even if you’re using 3D modeling, they’re still viewed in 2D, and seeing it on screen isn’t the same. VR immersion allows clients to experience the space and see what they’re buying before its built. Chris talks about the ways remodelers can use VR in their businesses, including:

  • When to bring VR into the sales process
  • Building in the charge for the VR design
  • How your 3D model becomes a VR environment
  • The equipment you’d need — and how much it may cost
  • Real-world examples of how VR speeds up client decisions
  • How to use it with Project Managers and Trade Partners
  • And more…

Victoria and Mark also spitball ways to use VR in your marketing. The pace of technology is fast — and VR is the newest tool on the scene. If you’ve got ideas or opinions on how VR may affect the remodeling business or your business, let us know in the comments below.

Partnership — Creating a Unified Vision for Your Company’s Future with Matt Carlson – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

Having a business partner can be an enormous advantage if you approach it correctly. Most people underestimate the commitment and work that goes into a partnership. Ensuring that you’re on the same page and share the same vision goes far beyond having a plan on paper.

In this episode, Matt Carlson shares his story with Victoria and Mark, and what he’s learned as the minority partner in his business in making the relationship work.

Matt is the general manager and co-owner of Fox Home Innovations in Manhattan, KS. After 10 years in the business, and nine as an owner he has a unique perspective on the lessons he has learned from growing FHI alongside his business partner Chris Fox.

Matt and Chris met in college, and worked on several projects together there while both where studying entrepreneurship. Matt then joined Chris in his new remodeling company. He started out working in the field, and Chris proposed the partnership idea quickly. It started as a trial run for a year, while he was still considered an employee. They made it official after the trial period. Matt talks about what you need to do to create and maintain a successful partnership, including:

  • Making the commitment
  • Being open and honest
  • Putting egos aside
  • How to maintain an equal partnership regardless of ownership stake
  • The importance of having open books
  • Delegating duties and responsibilities
  • Keeping egos out of it
  • Resolving conflicts
  • Speaking with one voice
  • Taking a thoughtful approach to long-term company health
  • And more …

If you’re in a partnership, or are considering one, Matt says the biggest thing to remember is to put the business first — above any personal relationship you share.

Focusing on Clarity in Communication with Jeremy Steinruck – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

We’re under an almost constant barrage of information from every angle. As leaders in our business, it’s imperative that our messages are clearly understood. But it’s equally important, if not more so, that we get messages clearly. 

In this episode, Jeremy discusses how to make your communication skills better with Victoria and Mark, what it will take, and how it will help your business and your life.

Jeremy is co-owner and vice president of Axis Construction in Wichita Falls, TX, a company he and partner Jeff Miller started 13 years ago. Jeremy holds a master’s degree in human resource management, but he is most thankful for the influence of incredible mentors and friends who have shared their wisdom freely. 

Learning to be a better communicator is possible, even if it’s not in your native skillset. Jeremy says the first part, for him, was getting rid of his “head trash.” He had to get rid of limiting beliefs, only hang on to ideas that could be proven true, eliminate his assumptions of what someone else believes, and not let any of those things influence his decisions. He talks about how to get past that and boost your communication and listening skills, including:

  • The basic rules of engagement
  • Facing fears
  • Placing yourself in someone else’s comfort zone
  • How to plan your conversations
  • Understanding you can’t convince someone else
  • Asking questions to get to others’ needs
  • Setting goals at the beginning of the conversation
  • Communicating with intent
  • The four things to do before having a tough conversation
  • And more …

Tiered Growth: Understanding Metrics and Recognizing Signs to Set Profitable Sales Goals with Michael Hodgin – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

Most people would consider a company jumping from $1.5 million to $3 million in revenue a growing organization. However, when we look beyond gross sales, those numbers don’t necessarily mean it grew. It could even mean the company is less profitable — and ultimately less successful — than it was before. 

Michael Hodgin says planning for, and implementing, tiered advances are a better strategy for deliberate, healthy growth.

In this episode, Michael discusses his tiered increase growth strategy with Victoria and Mark. For healthy growth, he says you have to set and meet certain goals for sales, job costs, systems and performance before taking the next step.

Michael was an owner of a successful remodeling company for over 22 years. He has since left and is the owner of Maestro’s Toolbox, where he works with owners of design-build companies across the country to help them build better companies and, therefore, better lives.

In addition, Michael has been part of the roundtables as an owner, a facilitator for roundtables meetings, and part of the Remodelers Advantage Business Coaching team.

Micheal says that your company’s gross sales should bump up to the next milestone only once your teams have mastered sales, pre-construction, and production systems at their current revenue level. That puts a company in a stronger position to handle the inevitable increase in workload. He talks about how to accomplish healthy, tiered growth for you remodeling company, including:

  • The infrastructure milestones to hit
  • Taking deliberate steps
  • The importance of setting goals 
  • Focusing on hitting those goals
  • Proving your success 
  • Nailing down all your job costs
  • Managing slippage
  • Building the foundation for growth
  • The metrics that tell you that you’re ready for the next step
  • Stepping away and delegating
  • And more …

How to Embed Innovation into Your Remodeling Company with Ben Bensaou – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

Many people believe that innovation comes from a sudden “aha!” moment, but, that is rarely the case.  So, guest Ben Bensaou is here to share how to continuously embed innovation into your company using a systematic approach.

Ben Bensaou is a professor and former Dean of Executive Education at INSEAD. As an innovation consultant, he has helped some of the world’s leading companies build innovation into their corporate DNA. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Business School, and a research fellow at Wharton.

Victoria, Mark and Ben talk more about:

  • The types of companies that benefit most from this approach
  • Who is responsible for innovation in a company
  • Shifting from a supplier-side view to a customer-side view
  • And more…

The Seven Deadly Sins of Negotiating with Jeff Borovitz – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

A remodeler who fears negotiation, is like a roofer who is afraid of heights.

Negotiation skills are necessary for success in the field of remodeling.  However, a lot of remodelers are unaware of how to even approach the subject. 

Guest Jeff Borovitz joins Victoria and Mark in this episode to talk about how to be an efficient negotiator and how to avoid the seven deadly sins of negotiation that stand in the way of success.

Jeff is a franchise owner of Sandler Training and the Remodelers Advantage Sandler Sales Trainer. He has advised, trained and coached small and medium-sized companies as well as large enterprise companies on developing stronger sales teams, closing more sales and leading organizational change.

Victoria, Mark and Jeff talk more about:

  • What the Seven Deadly Sins are
  • The sin that costs remodelers the most
  • The sin that is the most misunderstood
  • How conviction and belief relate to negotiation
  • And more…

How To Double The Number Of Top Leaders In Your Remodeling Company: Hire And Train More Women, Featuring Iris Harrell – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

In this episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Iris Harrell discusses the importance of having women in key positions within remodeling companies. They make up half of the US workforce, so there is a sizeable recruitment pool, and they also relate on a deeper level with female customers, who often drive decision-making. Women are multi-taskers, organizers, collaborators, and task-oriented, making them assets to any organization. 

Iris founded Harrell Design Build, a large, female-led, employee-owned, full-line remodeling company.  Harrell has consistently committed to high-quality design and craftsmanship and conscientious customer care since their inception in 1985. They also employ only people who share these ideals, including their reliable, rigorously selected subcontractors, and they are very proud of their commitment to women and diversity in the workplace.

Iris, Victoria, and Mark discuss:

  • Women in key positions in your company are a competitive advantage
  • Overcoming internal (and inherent) biases
  • And more…

Design Services as a Profit Center For Your Business with Dan Baumann – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted]

More and more remodeling and home building contractors realize the value their design services bring to their clients, and it is becoming a profit center for many companies.  Guest Dan Baumann is here to share the many reasons why you should be charging a fair price for your design services.

Dan is the founder of Chief Experts Academy, a resource-packed treasure trove of information that provides ongoing training, support, and content for contractors and designers involved in the sales and development of plans for residential and light commercial buildings.

Victoria, Mark and Dan talk more about:

  • Compensation for design services
  • Why some contractors may not charge for these services
  • How design services can save clients money on their projects
  • And more…
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