Worried about a steady flow of leads? If referrals are your main source of business, a structured, reliable process for generating them is essential! Many companies claim their top leads come from referrals, yet few have a formal strategy in place. In today’s episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Doug Howard shares a proven method for building a consistent referral system that works.

Doug Howard, a senior consultant with Remodelers Advantage since 2017, brings a wealth of experience to the table. Having facilitated over 8 Roundtables meetings each year, Doug has worked with hundreds of remodeling clients to help them master their financials, refine processes, and boost profitability.

Doug, Victoria, and Mark talk more about:

• What is a referral engine?
• Who should be responsible for generating referrals?
• What will cause people who already like us to send more referrals?
• And more…

The post The Steady Referral System with Doug Howard – [PowerTips Unscripted] S6 E4 appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Today on PowerTips Unscripted, we’re excited to welcome Bjorn Johnson to the show! As General Manager at TraVek Remodeling and Roofing, Bjorn shares insights into the company’s journey as one of Arizona’s most trusted leaders in remodeling and roofing. Tune in to hear about TraVek’s dedication to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, which has cemented its strong reputation in the industry.

Bjorn, who is passionate about sales and supporting his team’s growth both in and out of the office, joined TraVek for its solid foundation, core values, and great culture. He finds fulfillment in helping others succeed and is committed to making a meaningful impact on people’s lives. Join us as he unpacks the challenges, successes, and secrets behind TraVek’s top-tier service!

Bjorn, Victoria, and Mark talk more about:

• How is TraVek different from competitors?
• What do you attribute your success to?
• What is in the future for TraVek?
• How are you handling these trying economic times in the construction industry?
• And more…

The post How to Build a Reputation That Stands the Test of Time with Bjorn Johnson – [PowerTips Unscripted] S6 E3 appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Successful organizations rely on accurate financial information to make informed decisions. But what sets great organizations apart is having a formal month-end close process in place. This ensures that financials are completed, reviewed, corrected, and ready for leaders and managers to use confidently in decision-making. In this episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Doug Howard joins us to break down what a strong month-end close process looks like and how to implement it effectively.

Doug Howard, a senior consultant with Remodelers Advantage since 2017, brings a wealth of experience to the table. Having facilitated over 8 Roundtables meetings each year, Doug has worked with hundreds of remodeling clients to help them master their financials, refine processes, and boost profitability.

Doug, Victoria, and Mark talk more about:

• What is included in a good month-end process?
• How should financials be reviewed to know they are correct?
• Who should be involved in the financial process?
• And more…

The post A Month-End Close You Can Actually Make Business Decisions From with Doug Howard – [PowerTips Unscripted] S6 E2 appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

We’re big believers in the power of blogging to generate interest and business. Today we’re talking to someone in the trenches who’s also a believer, because it’s helped him in growing his business, gaining credibility, elevating customer loyalty, and  — most importantly — generating cost-effective, exclusive leads.

In this episode, Mike Foti discusses his business case for blogging with Victoria and Mark, and tells you how you can do the same.

Mike is president of Innovate Building Solutions of Cleveland, OH, a regional remodeling and nationwide wholesaler of grout-free shower and tub wall panels, wet room systems and glass floors, and also of Innovate Home Org, a designer and installer of custom home organization systems. In the eight years he’s been blogging on his News from the Block blog, it’s grown to 85,000 visitors per month and 19,000 email subscribers — and he has two other blogs. Mike is a self-described DMG (Digital Marketing Geek) and loves learning how to increase traffic and leads without forking over big bucks to “Mr. Google.” He’s also a crazy one-hour-a-day runner – even after suffering two heart attacks over the last two years. Finally, Mike is a reinvigorated Cleveland Browns fan and says (just like Baker Mayfield) he’s feeling a little dangerous today.

Mike started blogging after a digital marketing consultant told him how it would help his business, and he admits his first attempts weren’t so good. Mike shares his five reasons to blog, tips for finding the time to do it, and the benefits, including:

• Avoiding pay-per-click costs
• Why he doesn’t do Facebook ads
• Becoming known as an expert and building a following
• Why it works for project-based businesses
• The importance of being consistent
• Attracting tire-kickers and turning them into leads
• The power of information, influence, and education
• If you can’t write, finding someone who can
• Giving yourself permission to not be very good at first
• How to generate ideas — taking questions from your sales calls and answering them
• Why the weirdest jobs make the best stories
• Writing awesome headlines
• Sharing who you are for a personal connection
• How to entertain while educating
• And more …

The post How to Capture Cost-Effective, Exclusive Leads by Blogging with Mike Foti – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Season 6 of PowerTips is here!

Every business owner knows that the road to growth is filled with challenges—some of which can feel overwhelming. But in this episode, we’re talking to an entrepreneur who’s not only faced those obstacles but has led his business to remarkable success.

Join hosts Victoria and Mark as they sit down with Greg Harth, president of Harth Builders—a nationally recognized, award-winning design-build firm in Greater Philadelphia. Recorded live from the 2024 Remodelers Summit, Greg, a longtime Roundtables member since 2012 and second-generation owner, shares his journey of taking the reins from his father Allyn and building on the company’s legacy.

Victoria, Mark, and Greg talk more about:

• Navigating the challenges of generational business transitions.
• How a commitment to professional development helped Greg lead Harth Builders to new heights.
• Practical tips for overcoming setbacks and staying focused on growth.

The post Live From Summit with Greg Harth – [PowerTips Unscripted] S6 E1 appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Victoria and Mark are just back from their own peer group meeting, and were inspired by what they learned. In particular, they were excited by something they heard from another member, Wayne Rivers.

Wayne has a video blog, and we’re picking up one of his episodes about leadership. He says leaders tolerate bad behaviors in their organizations too often, and it can cost you money and time. The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate. You may hear some things that hit home for you in his talk.

Wayne Rivers, the co-founder and President of Performance Construction Advisors, and celebrated for his four influential books. He’s a sought-after media figure, appearing on Today Show, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and “BusinessWeek: WEEKEND,” and serves as a Wall Street Journal Expert Panelist. In addition, Wayne’s wisdom is featured in Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, and The New York Times. With a wealth of articles, a 15-year blog, and workshops for prestigious organizations like Harley-Davidson and YPO, he brings a wealth of experience to PCA. Honored as a Fellow of the Family Firm Institute, Wayne’s dedication reflects his passion for building better contractors.

Wayne gives examples of toxic employee behavior in his talk today, and tells you how you can curb them, including:

• The reasons you keep bad employees
• Why you need to have performance reviews
• The definition of stewardship
• Why you need to have a recruiting system
• Developing your spine
• The benefits of outside support for leaders
• The improve or remove system
• And more …

The post A Leader’s Inactions Are Just as Important as Actions with Wayne Rivers – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Small business owners spend a lifetime building a company and have one shot at getting their exit right.

Yet waiting to pounce on this unsuspecting group is a legion of financial mercenaries, private equity predators and corporate giants set up to prey on owner’s lack of experience when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

These financial engineers use sleazy tactics like “strategic pacing,” “re-trading,” and “proprietary deal flow” to dupe owners into selling their life’s work for pennies on the dollar.

Our guest in this episode, John Warrillow, passionately advocates owners reframe how they approach their company from thinking of it as a job to building a transferable and valuable asset.

John is the founder of The Value Builder System, a simple software for building the value of a company used by thousands of businesses worldwide. He is a past Keynote Speaker at our Remodelers Summit and has been a guest here on PowerTips Unscripted in milestone episodes 01 and 100.

Victoria, Mark and John talk more about:

• The selling trends that John foresees with business owners who were hit hard during the pandemic.
• The biggest mistakes John sees owners make when it’s time to sell.
• The evil tricks large corporations and private equity groups use to pray on inexperienced owners.
• How owners let potential buyers know they are interested in selling without looking desperate.
• When owners should tell their employees they are thinking of selling.
• And more…

The post How to Build, Accelerate and Harvest the Value of a Company with John Warrillow – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

Toyota pioneered the LEAN manufacturing system, and we know — houses aren’t cars. But neither are people, and the LEAN concept of continuous improvement is used by hospitals too. 

So even if remodeling isn’t brain surgery, we can learn a lot from how LEAN has been applied in healthcare. You can get some of the best help with your business by looking at how other industries use continuous improvement.

In this episode, Liz Moisan talks to Victoria and Mark about using LEAN principles in healthcare and how it can be applied to remodeling. She says Kaizen or LEAN principles give you a common language for things we already know, creating a foundation to move forward.

Liz is a product innovation specialist at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, and has been a practitioner of the Virginia Mason Production System since 2008. She teaches, facilitates, and works to continually evolve how Kaizen is applied in a health-care setting. She’s married to R/A Roundtables member Matt Moisan.

The hospital employs daily Kaizen, so even the smallest roadblock can be eliminated, as well as  higher-level applications. She shares some real-world examples, including cutting down on waiting times for patients (yay!), working with vendors to get what the hospital needs when it needs it, The Five Ss, and how to look at a particular process to improve it, including:

• Where to start
• Staying true to the tools
• Identifying and eliminating waste in processes
• The evolution of continuous improvement
• Breaking the status quo and getting buy-in
• Understanding supply and demand for materials
• Onboarding new employees in LEAN principles
• Training at the management level
• Finding the “rock in your shoe”
• When and why to get help
• And more …

Here are those two books Liz recommends for getting started understanding the Kaizen principles:

1. The Toyota Way
2. Transforming Healthcare: Virginia Mason Medical Center’s Pursuit of the Perfect Patient Experience

The post What Healthcare Can Teach Remodeling about LEAN with Liz Moisan – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

The concept behind developing a customer persona is pretty simple – get to know your audience better so that you can build a more meaningful relationship with them, both as a client and a prospect.

The output of that analysis is inevitable company growth and client retention. So how do firms, of all sizes, build meaningful personas to shape the way they go to market?

In this episode, Aimee Pagano talks with Victoria and Mark about the process of building these vital tools and what a remodeling firm can do with them.

Aimee is the Director of Programming at HighRoad Solutions, a smartech data integration company for associations. She has 20 years of marketing and communications experience and her specialties include persona development, content strategy and generation, lead gen, and website development / optimization.

Victoria, Mark and Aimee talk more about:

• What a customer persona is and how remodeling firms would use it.
• What the building blocks are for customer persona development.
• Working without data.
• What you do with the customer personas once you’ve developed them.
• Who should be involved when going through a customer persona exercise.
• And more…

The post Building Meaningful Customer Personas with Aimee Pagano – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

For many, determining the compensation for an employee is nothing more than doing a quick Google search, or in our members case, maybe asking their peers what they pay for a particular position.  But Tom Miller doesn’t really agree with that methodology.  Instead, his company helps businesses apply the best compensation strategies that help recruit great talent.

Tom is the founder and president of The VisionLink Advisory Group, a compensation design firm that services private businesses across North America. Tom and his firm have served over 600 companies across all industries. 

In this episode, Tom discusses how to help small businesses apply the best practice compensation strategies that help recruit great talent, encourage the execution of the business plan, and growing a company.

Victoria, Mark and Tom talk more about:

• The starting point for building a great compensation plan in small company.
• The most common mistakes employers make relative to compensation.
• How to build an effective incentive plan in a private business.
• The best way to handle employees who want stock in the company.
• Setting and managing salaries for different employees.
• And more…this 

The post Creating Great Compensation Programs that Help Grow Your Company with Tom Miller – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

In this episode, Jeff Talmadge discusses how he and his team created a point system for his design staff to spread their workload.  Each designer is assigned a predetermined number of points, weighted by criteria such as permitting, scope, and complexity of the job.  The team tracks points weekly and has found that designers are less...

The post Gauging Your Designers’ Workload Effectively With Jeff Talmadge – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.