If it’s your business, it’s your fault! If things aren’t going the way you want them to, you need to accept that and take responsibility rather than point the finger at your employees.

In this episode, we talk about…

• Reasons why your employee’s shortcomings come back to you.
• A couple of books you should read about leadership.
• Why you can’t have the victim mentality.
• A few exceptions to the rule where something isn’t your fault.
• How to learn from your mistakes - which is hard when you can’t admit something is your fault.
• Thoughts on the journey towards self-mastery and growth.
• How to hold employees accountable and create a culture of discipline in the workplace.
• Strategies for taking ownership of the situation when things aren’t going the way you want with your business.
• How you can practice taking accountability with role plays in the coaching group.

Links to Resources:

Check out the books we recommended.

Profit Club – Paid Coaching group www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub 

Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecontractorprofitgroup

Facebook – Hammer and Grind

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Brad’s Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Eric’s Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP17

Are 7 Touches Still Important?

The basic marketing principle of 7 touches is; it takes seven marketing impressions or touches, to get a prospect engaged with you to purchase.

This could be a sighting of your branded vehicle, a visit to your website, some social proofing on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, the phone call, word of mouth, a yard sign and the list goes on and on.

While Brad and Eric debate and disagree what the most important marketing move might be for a given company, they both agree, the Seven Touches Rule is an old marketing principle and is arguably no longer a SEVEN!

You may know the “6 degrees of separation” principle implies all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other! Imagine you are only six social connections away from having coffee with your favorite actor, politician or musician!

Considering the internet has evolved and social media has exploded over the last decade, these numbers must certainly be shrinking.

The six degrees of separation theoretically could be 3 degrees and the 7 touches marketing principle might only be 4 touches in today’s marketplace!

The question becomes, what are the most important marketing touches to focus on? Brad and Eric agree a solid and sustainable company should be hitting on all marketing cylinders!

Whether the 7 touches remain accurate or not, becoming laser focused on promoting your company (your brand) on video, audio, social media platforms, a solid website, networking groups, collaborating with supporting companies, your company apparel and uniforms, vehicle wraps, capturing reviews, word of mouth exposure and EVERY creative marketing method to wisely tick the needle forward is paramount in business today.

Keep in mind, you’ll never truly know which marketing touch is working unless you are asking your prospects how they found out about your company and tracking the data. This is quite possibly the biggest take away from this podcast download.

Even if you are tracking, keep in mind, if the prospect tells you they found your company because of your truck wrap, it certainly isn’t the only touch or THE touch that convinced the prospect to choose your company, so make every touch count!

Profit Club – Paid Coaching group www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecontractorprofitgroup

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Brad’s Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Eric’s Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP16

Are You Checking Your Vitals?

The single most important KPI (Key Performance Indicator) to the success of your business - is Job Costing! That being the case, why is it that the mass majority of construction companies ignore this vital number?

Possibly because a great majority of contractors come up in the construction business as a craftsman and become business owners along their journey without any training, guidance, or business assistance.

Essentially jumping from the frying pan into the fire!

Tracking how much profit you make on each and every project is like checking your vitals. Businesses either live and thrive or sink and die by this KPI.

If you are not tracking your job costing on your projects it is probably better that your business sinks and dies quickly so you don’t lead a long, painfully struggling, business hell - for decades to come.

Keeping a close eye on your Job Costing can tell you if your estimating is weak or strong, if your production division is efficient or worthless, if your employees are stealing, if your business is growing or shrinking, if you are in a deficit decline or surplus growth pattern, it can determine if your crew deserves a bonus, raises, or a swift kick in the @$$!

Job Costing lets you know if you are winning or losing!

Most contractors have a competitive DNA to some degree, so why is it that a majority of them do not do job costing?

Is it because they don’t care, they don’t know any better, they are stupid, maybe ignorant, or is it because they secretly hate their business and want to lead a miserably unfulfilled, uncertain life?

You tell me. Are you Job Costing?

Profit Club – Paid Coaching group www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecontractorprofitgroup

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Brad’s Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Eric’s Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com
 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP 15

Not My Client!

What comes to mind, when you hear a contractor immediately label a prospect that doesn’t use their product or services as “Not My Client”?

Do you want to give that contractor a high five and share similar stories of how not every prospect is your client and some of these people need to wake the eff up and kick rocks!?

OR

Do you wonder how the prospect was attracted to the contractor in the first place? Was the marketing message correct in targeting the right prospect? How was the prospect received into the sales process and how did the prospect “feel” at the end of the interaction with the contractor.

If you said, “Yes” to handing out the High Five’s, you might want to rethink your mindset.

The real question we should be asking ourselves as entrepreneur contractors is; Are we talking to the wrong prospects or talking wrong to our prospects?

Contractors have so much on the line when receiving prospects into their funnel, not only financially but emotionally as well.

While it is true, not every prospect is your client, I hope you see how the mentality of writing off a prospect as “NOT MY CLIENT, they can’t afford me, is a defense mechanism contractors use in order to protect their egos and keep them from emotional despair.

Catch this podcast to help you break that fixed mindset and expose yourself to the truth.

Profit Club – Paid Coaching group www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecontractorprofitgroup

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Brad’s Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Eric’s Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP14

Your Feelings Don’t Matter!

Why is it that so many entrepreneurs are soft? Thin skinned? Sensitive? Weak?

When you become a business owner, an entrepreneur and truly embark on a journey to self-mastery, you need to put your feelings on the shelf!

Do you want a football coach that speaks softly and politely to you during practice? After you get your ass kicked on the gridiron, do you want your coach to hug you and tell you how special you are?

Or do you want the football coach that gets after you relentlessly, driving out your weaknesses, and demands you improve upon your strengths, so you’re the one doing the ass kicking on the gridiron.

While Brad and Eric with their wildly different personalities don’t always agree on topics, they both firmly believe in facing your weaknesses head on, no sugar coating of feelings, tell it like it is, demand greatness coaching.

When you lean into a mastermind group, coaching program or sales training to make improvements on your business, personal development, communication skills, and financial freedoms, you damn well better leave your sensitive feelings in the locker room.

Don’t let your feelings hold you back from improvements that can literally change the course of your life – Fuck Your Feelings and Win!

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP 13

This One Thing Is Costing You Thousands!

This podcast will save you thousands and thousands of dollars if you pay attention and take action on the challenge presented at the end of the download!

Brad kicks off the podcast sharing a story about how he lost a couple of thousand dollars in the blink of an eye, bidding against himself!

Stop negotiating with yourself before sharing the number with your client!

Every contractor that has ever pitched a number for a project to a prospect has negotiated with themselves for the client into reducing the price of the project before ever sharing the number with the client!

Why do we do this? How do we identify when we are bidding against ourselves and how in the world can we train ourselves to stop this behavior?

Brad and Eric discuss why they do not like working for sweet old ladies. Especially the ones that cook amazing meatballs!

Too often, we find ourselves questioning if the price we are going to pitch is the right price and if the client can afford or be willing to pay our asking price.

Knowing your numbers on your installations and standing tall on your necessary gross profit to achieve your desired net profit for each project you tackle is the key component to breaking the habit of bidding against yourself.

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP 12

Your Branding Sucks!

Learn a little history lesson right off the bat about branding in this podcast as Eric shares a little Ranch Life, Cowboy story.

Find out where the idea of branding actually came from and when it all began.

While branding is not marketing, and marketing is not branding, they do go hand in hand to complement and support each other in sharing a company’s reputation.

Branding is not just about a company’s reputation. A company brand expands into the company’s vision and culture using icon logos, slogans, jingles, influencers, and much, much more.

While discussing some of the largest brands in the world, Brad and Eric take a twist into the emotions behind these brands and how they make you feel not only about the company but about yourself as well.

Using big brands as examples, the direction of the podcast turns to how contractors can reflect on the foundation of what the big brands do as examples of what to do and what not to do!

Eric and his wife Leslie are still pissed off at Anheuser Busch because they stopped using the Clydesdale horses in their beer commercials.

You don’t want to miss out when Brad and Eric go into a back and forth, Round Robin spitting out examples of Why Your Branding Sucks!

Let’s hope they aren’t talking about you and your construction company’s brand!

Dive deep into the weeds on this polarizing topic with Brad and Eric on this podcast.

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To Charge Or Not To Charge For Estimates?

This topic is borderline controversial.

A lot of contractors feel like running out to provide a client with a FREE ESTIMATE is simply a cost of doing business, while other contractors want to be paid for their time and expertise. Let’s dig into this topic.

There are prospects that literally plan on collecting multiple FREE ESTIMATES, running several contractors into the ground to get the best possible ideas and leveraging the contractors against each other for the best possible price!

On the flip side, there are wonderful prospects looking for a positive interaction, with a quality contractor, willing to pay a fair price for the work they want done and will happily pay for a consultation.

Listen up as Brad and Eric discuss what the difference between an estimate and a consultation is, how they discuss the differences with their clients and ultimately how they offer free estimates and paid consultation services.

Don’t charge your good customers for the run-around time with bad customers!

Stop chasing around nonsense clients.

Learn how to communicate well with your clients.

Learn how to provide so much value to your prospects that they will gladly pay you for your consultation time.

If you are consulting with a client for a $20,000.00 project and the client is not willing to pay you $250 as a consultant, that should be a RED FLAG! Either you are not dealing with a serious prospect or you have some serious work to do on your branding.

Dive deep into the weeds on this Important topic with Brad and Eric on this podcast.

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP10

Emotions Behind The Buying Decision

There is so much more behind the person buying from a contractor than just fulfilling a need.

Pain and Pleasure is a real testimony and the fundamental foundation of the emotions behind the buying decision. Most of the time people are making decisions to either avoid pain or gain pleasure.

Most contractors go from craftsman to business person and along the journey, somehow, someway, figure out how to sell their services without getting any schooling, training or coaching on sales. So unless the contractor has a naturally High Emotional Intelligence, they overlook the emotions that prospects have at the time of decisions.

Finding genuine, authentic connections with your prospects during a sales meeting can connect you emotionally with your clients. Things like the affinity for the same sports team or hobbies, etc. This can also happen over the phone.

Finding connections and building rapport is like having a SUPERPOWER. A tactical power move during a sales meeting is to “Love Their Property”. An example would be, “Wow, you have a wonderful property, you must be so proud.” Being authentic is paramount. Don’t use these superpowers to be a shady contractor.

Tapping into the emotions of your prospect in person is a whole lot easier than on the phone, but believe it or not, with some coaching, practice, and role-playing, you can tap into this superpower over the phone on a sales call!

Understanding “How” people buy and the reasons “Why” people buy can have a massive impact! Once you understand the reasons and emotions behind the buyer’s motivation, you are literally deeper in the pocket of the decision-maker than 95% of all contractors.

Look for EMOTIONAL CLUES and Keywords. Pick up on words like embarrassed, excited, special, feelings, upset, mad, desperate, desire, need, want, funeral, fun, laughing, inheritance, loss, memory, family loss, in memory of, collectibles, traveling, and many many more!

Brad discusses some Critical Criteria To The Buying Decision. He says “people make decisions based on their emotions and then they use logic to justify their decision”. This is the reason some people have “Buyer’s Remorse” after they buy something expensive!

Contrary to what most contractors believe, money is more often than not, not the most important element in the buying decision. Frequently, budget comes in at number three on the list of reasons why people buy.

Clients want to know the contractor understands their needs and if the contractor is even capable of delivering what they want. Clients want to trust the contractor and then money will fall in line. Buying decisions don’t always fall in this order, but these are the criteria that line up more than contractors realize.

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hammer and Grind Podcast EP 9

Communicating With Your Clients

1. Ask –

Focus on using Calibrated Questions. Questions that begin with, How, and What.

How long have you been thinking about tackling this project? How can I help you? What are the most important things you want me to know about this project?

When you ask a series of well-designed calibrated questions you get your clients to actually put themselves in your shoes and see things from your perspective so they begin to pour out the critical information you need.

Asking questions that begin with Why could actually get your clients into a defensive posture. A why question in many cases can be confrontational. Brad explains why we lean away from the Why questions!

Asking questions that begin with How and What offers your clients a way to really convey the meat and potatoes of what is on their mind. This line of questioning is paramount to effective communications.

 2. Listen –

After you ASK an important calibrated question, it is so important that you become quiet, and listen.

Too many contractors get into a rhythm of running their mouths during a conversation with a client or prospect. Offer silence in your communications so your prospect can actually respond without interruption.

More importantly, become laser-focused on becoming an active listener. It is common for people to “check out” when they finish talking. Don’t check out, listen.

When you have a list of questions you want to cover on a call with a client, it is easy to get caught up in thinking about the next question you want to cover when you should actually be listening. This is where you need to be careful and pay close attention to the conversation.

3. Affirm –

The final piece of the puzzle for effectively communicating with your clients is affirming you have heard what they are saying. Clients what to be heard. Your clients want you to listen to them.

Using mirroring and labels during the conversation is a positive way to affirm you are actively listening to the client during the call.

A wonderful way to offer affirmation that you listened to the client is with a recap of the conversation at the end of the call. Taking notes during a communication call is paramount to capture all the details of the call.

During a recap, you can use buzzwords the client used during the call while you repeat the most important things about the call. Repeating the client’s buzzwords during the communication is a powerful way to prove to the client you actually listened.

Hammer & Grind Profit Club – Link for more information

www.hammerandgrind.com/theprofitclub

Facebook – Hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @hammerandgrindpodcast

Instagram - @teamhandy - Brad Huebner

Instagram - @theponddigger – Eric Triplett

Website – www.hammerandgrind.com
 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.