Contractors Toolbox

In this episode, Gary talks with CCN's Production Mastery Trainer, Troy Timmer.

In this 1st episode of our 2-part series, Troy discusses the importance of a detailed firewall process and the importance of preconstruction meetings. Production is an expense for a contractor and the goal is to keep expenses down while also delivering a world class customer experience.

This is not an easy feat, yet it is critically important.

Troy gets into a great deal of detail on what it takes to create an excellent firewall process and all that must be covered in preconstruction meetings, and who needs to be involved in them.

This episode is excellent for anyone in the contracting trade, no matter the department you are in at your company.

In this episode, Gary talks about the importance of embracing change management leadership.

We are living in turbulent times and businesses need to adjust to changes happening around us. Technology and competition play a big role in the speed of change, and it is critical for every company leader to adopt a change management process.

Gary explains the 8-Step Change Management Framework that helps companies implement successful change with buy-in from the entire team. People are generally resistant to change, so this is a huge step in successful change management initiatives.

This is a great episode for owners and senior leadership.

In this episode, Gary talks about the importance of a written marketing plan.

Years ago, marketing plans were long and comprehensive documents that were a laborious process, resulting in not enough companies taking the time to create one. Times have changed with technology and external forces at play that can make creating such a plan even more difficult today.

Gary talks about the creation of a 1-Page Marketing Plan that takes you through the entire sales funnel, from defining your target audience, to creating your messaging, marketing to prospects, capturing and nurturing leads, delivering a world class customer experience and maintaining a relationship with customers after the job is done.

This episode is perfect for those who either do not have a formal written plan today or have an outdated plan.

In this episode, Gary talks about adopting best prac tices in Sales Management.

It starts with understanding the 3 keys at the core of effective sales management: Beliefs, Behaviors and Skills. It is critically important for the sales manager to ensure that sales reps understand the importance of these three areas. Gary then discusses the 12 habits of highly successful sales managers.

This is a great episode for any organization with a desire to drive revenue growth.

In this episode, Gary speaks with John Bowser, President and CEO of Target Media.

John talks about the importance of embracing newer forms of media to drive down cost per lead and specifically reaching your ideal target audience. John talks about the new frontier in media advertising with both audio and video streaming services and the up-and-coming opportunity for targeting the gaming industry, where all users are connected to the Internet.

It is fascinating to learn how you can get even more precise in your outreach, so you are not spending money on advertising to those who do not fit your specific requirements. John does an amazing job of explaining this new way of looking at media advertising and how even smaller contractors can now afford to advertise on streaming radio and television.

Be sure to catch this episode and raise the bar on your media strategy!

In this episode, Gary speaks with Sebastian Jimenez, Founder and CEO of Rilla Voice.

Rilla uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver speech analytics to sales managers to help them coach their sales reps, with the goal of a significantly increased conversion rate. By analyzing thousands of face-to-face conversations that reps have with homeowners in the field, sales reps can fine tune their delivery and enjoy greater success. Sales reps just deliver their demo and they do not have to do anything differently. They just talk like they usually do.

The Rilla App captures conversations from your rep's phones or tablets. Rilla automatically transcribes and analyzes their conversations using Artificial Intelligence.

Do not miss hearing about this breakthrough in raising the bar on your sales reps' performance and making sales managers far more productive in executing a revenue growth plan.

In this episode, Gary speaks with Bart Coors, Founder and CEO of Coors Remodeling Company.

Bart talks about starting his roofing and siding company and all the years he struggled to keep the business afloat. He contemplated bankruptcy and even quitting.

He learned about CCN, joined in 2001 and talks about how he made more money in the year after he joined than he had ever seen before. Bart also shared the challenges with growth, like overhead creep and overcoming that as well.

Another great take away from this conversation is Bart's emphasis on a world class customer experience and building an outstanding reputation for quality in his community. He stressed that he is far from the lowest price in town, yet his business thrives because homeowners are willing to pay more to know they will enjoy a top-quality experience.

Coors has become highly successful, and this episode is great for any contractor who wants to grow and raise the bar on their performance.

In this episode, Gary speaks with Tim Carrington, CEO of Vantige, Inc., a professional HR services firm.

Every employer does HR work; the problem is, most aren't good at it. Employers are good at what they do, with little time for other things. Professional HR helps employers increase the value of their employees.

For most employers, employee costs make up the largest expense category. Every employer deserves a great return on employee expenses. That return includes monetary profit and relationships. Every employee deserves respect, opportunity and honest feedback.

Successful employment is a win-win relationship. Tim does a great job of articulating the most important considerations in HR. This is a timely topic with more and more contractors sharing various HR challenges.

Every Home Improvement Contractor will benefit from hearing from Tim, a top HR professional. Enjoy the episode!

In this episode, Gary speaks with Randy Hann, Founder & CEO of Contract Exteriors.

Randy talks about how he got into the business and shares some of the struggles he experienced in his journey to becoming an extraordinarily successful home improvement contractor.

He also talks about how he joined CCN, has been diligent about attending CCN's training, applying best practices and processes in every department, growing his knowledge base through these changes, and deeply engaging in the CCN network.

Randy discusses how the members of CCN played a huge role in helping him build an extraordinarily successful company and how he now enjoys serving as the mentor to other contractors. This is a fantastic episode!

In this episode, Gary speaks with Pete Ingram, CEO of Mirage Screen Systems.

Pete talks about how so many exterior contractors are adding retractable screens as an additional product line. There is increasing demand for retractable screens, it is an easy installation that can be done quickly and is an easy add-on to other exterior work a contractor is doing at home.

Pete goes into detail about the several types of retractable screens and why so many exterior contractors are adding this product line to their offerings. This product also enjoys high gross margins and can really add to the profitability of a job.

This is an informative conversation and one where you may find this to be a terrific opportunity for your business.