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.

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: The Toyota Way 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.

The Cost-Plus Pricing model seems to go completely against common sense, but it’s a concept that we’re getting more questions about from our membership. One contributing factor is that consumers increasingly demand transparency when purchasing products and services — and homeowners are coming to expect it when undertaking a remodeling project. But so many remodelers don’t understand it. Can Cost Plus be your new pricing model? Josh Baker, co-founder of BOWA Builders, has been using Cost-Plus Pricing for more than 20 years. In this episode, he talks to Victoria and Mark about its pros and cons, and why it’s a cornerstone of his company’s success. Josh founded BOWA Builders in McLean, VA, with college friend Larry Weinberg in 1988, serving the Washington, DC, metro market. As the leader of BOWA’s sales and marketing team, Josh helped to quickly grow the company’s revenues from $250,000 to nearly $40 million in just 20 years. As chief revenue officer, Josh’s focus is on growth and managing an energetic, productive sales team. Recognized nationally as an expert in the industry, Josh is quoted regularly in publications, including The Washington Post, Better Homes & Gardens, and Remodeling, and is a frequent speaker at local and national industry meetings. Cost-Plus Pricing can be a differentiator, but it can also frighten some remodeling business owners — as well as some clients. Josh explains how to present the concept to clients, and what it will take to implement it profitably, as well as: What jobs are suited to the Cost-Plus Model Weighing the risks and rewards The necessity of pinpoint accuracy in estimating Why not to apologize for your costs The time it takes to do well Why you need a sophisticated, expert sales staff to make it work And a whole lot more… The post How to Successfully Use Cost-Plus Pricing with Josh Baker – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

In this episode, we take a closer look at the sales process. We are always looking for fresh ideas and concepts that apply specifically to remodelers and those in the building community. Our guest Jan Neiges is adamant that you should be selling to design, NOT designing to sell, and she shares how you can improve your closing ratio, gain more control of the sales cycle and earn a design fee within two hours. Jan Neiges is a National Kitchen and Bath certified Kitchen Designer and on the nine-member board for NKBA. Jan brings her 20 years of experience as a kitchen and bath designer and her 40 years of sales experience to share the selling process that she has developed. Victoria, Mark and Jan talk more about: Background on how Jan began working on this process. Why this process is so important for remodelers to consider. What some of the issues are within the industry faces that drives the need for using this process. And more… The post Selling to Design, Not Designing to Sell with Jan Neiges – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

One of our core principles is that remodeling companies should make a good net profit, after paying the owners an above-average salary. When the economy’s booming, you can get away with a lot and still hit those goals, sometimes by accident. But the goal is to get those healthy net profits consistently, year after year, even in a downturn. In this episode, Mike Medford Sr. talks to Victoria and Mark about how to do just that. Before seeing the metrics of the Top Ten Roundtables members a few years ago, Mike says his financials were always in flux. But then he took those figures and made them hard targets. Mike Medford Sr. has been a home remodeling contractor for over 40 years. In 2007, he partnered with his son, Mike Jr. to form what is now Medford Design Build, with offices in Colleyville and Arlington, TX. Mike Sr. is the former president of Medford Design Build and is currently retired.  Mike challenged himself and his team to hit the new fixed targets. He refined their processes and challenged his team to hit those targets. By the next quarterly meeting, the company’s profits were rising. He talks about how he and his team made it happen, including: Creating a profit-centric culture How net profits will help you beat the labor shortage Focusing your staff on gross profit The importance of open books to the process Setting up a bonus structure Building time in to plan And more… Mike also talks about getting back to the art of contracting and how important that is to your margins. The post How to Hit Healthy Net Profits in any Economic Climate with Mike Medford Sr. – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.

As a seasoned business professional, you’ve probably been on both sides of the equation when it comes to giving and getting help. Get advice, give consultation. Gain a mentor, bestow some wisdom. While in these essential moments, we want to help and be helped, that doesn’t always happen.  It helps to know there are differences in the types of support we can give and get — and what they are.  In this episode, Allison Iantosca will discuss those distinctions with Victoria and Mark, and how stopping and thinking about how you ask for or give help will make the results more useful and valuable. Allison is the president and owner of F.H. Perry Builder, a Boston-area custom remodeling firm focused on building homes and relationships of lasting value. Though there are nuanced distinctions, coaching, consulting, and mentoring are not the same thing, says Allison. Knowing the differences will make the help given or gotten more relevant and valuable. Figuring it out includes knowing what you want to offer or receive in that moment, including: Who needs what, and when Concentrating on process in coaching Consulting and advising on outcomes Using experience in mentoring for a shared outcome Coaching your staff How to know what help to ask for The time periods needed for each Asking the right questions to spur the right answers And more … One of the best ways to differentiate between the three main types of help you can give or get is to determine the goal, and what choices need to be made to get there. The post All Help Is the Same, Isn’t it? with Allison Iantosca – [Best of PowerTips Unscripted] appeared first on PowerTips Unscripted.