PowerTips Unscripted Remodelers Advantage

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…

There is one challenge most remodelers have been facing, and that is the labor shortage. 

So, what are you doing to find and attract the best talent? Marketing isn’t only used as a tactic for finding sales leads but also for attracting the best talent, and guest Danielle Russell is here to share how you can use digital marketing to find that talent.

Danielle is the President of Builder Funnel, a digital marketing agency that has been serving remodelers like you for over a decade. She’s here to share some of her top tips that worked for Builder Funnel as it grew alongside its clients and the industry over the past year and a half.

Victoria, Mark, and Danielle talk more about:



* Increasing brand awareness

* Building a culture and reputation

* The “always hiring” mentality

* And more…

Do you know you can increase the effectiveness of your digital marketing with handwritten notes?  Jesse Stein joins the show to take us on a deep dive into the world of digital marketing. He discusses how using handwritten notes can help remodelers grow their business, and provides us help with improving our digital marketing.

Jesse has an impressive background as a serial entrepreneur. He’s founded, grown, and sold multiple ventures throughout his career, including SportsMemorabilia.com, a skincare brand, and DietSpotlight.com. Jesse also holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from UC Santa Barbra. He is currently the CEO and Founder of Audience.co.

Victoria, Mark, and Jesse talk more about:



* Robotic handwritten notes

* Digital marketing strategies for remodelers

* And more… 

An aging skilled workforce is retiring, and there’s a shortage of younger people taking their place. It’s a hot topic among remodeling companies, who are still searching for the right answers to solving their labor shortage.

In  this episode, Mischa Fisher, Victoria, and Mark discuss what you can do to bridge the skills gap, and how to change deep-seated perceptions around joining the home-services industry. 

Mischa Fisher is the chief economist at ANGI Homeservices, representing the HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List brands. Prior to this role, Mischa was chief economist for Illinois, where he served as the economic policy advisor to the governor; he is also a former legislative director for the United States Congress in Washington, DC, and is currently an instructor in applied quantitative analysis at Northwestern University. 

Mischa says the labor shortage starts with s a simple fact of demographics, where an aging workforce is getting ready to retire, and the Millennials and younger Generation Z aren’t in the pipeline to replace them. Compounding that, there’s already a shortage of skilled labor. An internal HomeAdvisor poll showed 65 percent of their members could not fill a position, says Mischa, and it’s getting worse. Mischa shares his insights into what’s causing the labor shortage, and how we can all go about fixing it, plus bonus advice from his dad, including:



* Why talking about it is a great start

* Raising awareness inside and outside the industry

* Best practices to fill your open positions

* How to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z with a rewarding workplace

* The importance of building a real team

* Recognizing generational differences and how to work with them

* How to create a clear pathway to learning

* Recruiting older, experienced people

* Using the student loan crisis to your advantage in recruiting

* Appealing to the entrepreneurial spirit

* Working with industry, government, and educational leaders

* Educating parents about the advantages of learning a skilled trade

* And more …

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.

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.