Remodeling Mastery by Mark Richardson

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:40) In This Episode: Scarcity The reality is that some businesses have a certain amount of scarcity. Scarcity as it relates to opportunity, leads, clients and projects. Some businesses, however, have an abundance of those things. Why is that the case? In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will explain how companies that understand scarcity vs. abundance are the ones that are able to deal with scarcity. Join Mark as he explains what scarcity means and how it relates to your business. He also gives tips on how your business can deal with scarcity better. (14:05) Thought Leader Interview with Ed Johnson, Executive Director & CEO of the Better Business Bureau Mid-Atlantic Region The BBB is a highly recognized and respected non-profit organization. It is the largest community of trusted businesses in North America. Ed Johnson has been with the BBB for over 30 years and he’s been the president and CEO for the BBB in the DC area for over 23 years. Join Ed and Mark as they discuss the BBB and how you can leverage it to improve and take your business to the next level. "Throughout the United States in 2018 there were over 170 million inquiries to the BBB on various companies. Whereas there were only 860,000 complaints. So what this tells you is that more people are calling to find out about a company before they do business with them so they don't have to complain later." —Ed Johnson

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:30) In This Episode: 20 Tips for 2020 It's a brand new year and the start of a new decade, so it's the perfect time to really think about how you can improve your business and, if necessary, implement some changes. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will discuss 20 tips, insights and thoughts for 2020. Join Mark as he discusses the importance of figuring out your why, the benefits of keeping things simple, why you shouldn't necessarily look at each month or each quarter equally and more. (20:45) Thought Leader Interview with Sabrina Starling, Author of How To Hire The Best: The Contractor’s Ultimate Guide to Attracting Top Performing Employees Of all the different issues in the industry right now, one of the most challenging is finding, hiring, retaining the right kind of talent. Sara wrote her book to fulfill a need. There just wasn't a guide to help small business owners with hiring. Remodeling companies often face a dilemma. There are opportunities to grow their business, but they don't have the team members to capitalize on that opportunity. Join Sara and Mark as they discuss how to build the best team for your company. "When it comes to hiring A players, we need to understand their psychology and how they behave and structure our recruiting process around that." —Sabrina Starling

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:45) In This Episode: 2020 2020 is not only just a new year, but a new decade. A new decade has a lot of different meanings compared to just a new year. When you think in terms of decades instead of years, you'll begin to notice several important issues that you probably wouldn't have noticed if you only think in terms of years. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will discuss 10 different thoughts and insights about looking at something at a 10-year cycle vs. looking at something at just for one year. (14:11) Thought Leader Interview with Joaquin Erazo, President and Founder of Marketing Wing Joaquin Erazo is the president and founder of Marketing Wing. His company offers cutting-edge strategic marketing for design build remodeling companies and takes an analytical approach to building a marketing strategy for their clients. In the past 10-15 years, marketing has changed because consumers have changed. Today's consumers are more sophisticated and they have a lot more information on their fingertips. Join Joaquin and Mark as they discuss how marketing strategies for remodeling companies have changed and explain how your business can thrive in this new environment. "When I think of marketing strategies, I usually look at them in three buckets: client acquisition, client retention and branding. The big effect on those strategies today has been technology." —Joaquin Erazo

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:35) In This Episode: World Class Client Experiences Many people go into the remodeling business because they have a real interest in designing and building things, which is why they focus on the product and on creating things for their customers. However, the reality is for customers it's not about the product. It's about the experience. Creating great experiences for your customers is one of the keys to business success. A delighted core client base can provide a lot of value because of positive reviews, referrals and repeat business. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will explain how you can create a world class customer experience. It's simpler than you think. (14:41) Thought Leader Interview with David Lupberger, Author of The Emotional Homeowner David Lupberger is a former remodeling contractor who now writes books and gives talks on how to make customers for life. Join David and Mark as they discuss how remodeling companies have a unique relationship with their customers that no other service providers have. David explains why it's incredibly important to maintain your engagement with your customers. A remodeler can provide an ongoing service to their customers because remodeling is trust-driven and experience-driven, not price-driven. "We're in a relationship with people anywhere from three to over twelve months. We are literally working in their home, around their family and so the relationships we have with people are just sincere and fundamental." —David Lupberger

(1:37) In This Episode: Who Will Fire You? It's critical that as you and your business mature, you start thinking about the next steps: the transitions in your business. These transitions need to be thought about well in advance. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will discuss how you can create these transitions and provide you with 6 useful tips. You can't move forward unless you design the person who will push you forward. (13:24) Thought Leader Interview with Vince Nardo, President of Reborn Vince Nardo is the President of Reborn. He grew his father's small business into a company with 7 locations in California and Nevada and about 500 employees. Join Vince and Mark as they discuss the importance of looking at your business in an analytical and systematic way. He also shares insights on how constantly challenging himself has led his business into success and explains why you should hire for where you want to be rather than hiring for what you need today. "It's sad to say but we don't really focus on the product we do because the product we do is already great. We focus on the systems that we need to have in order to make the product work. And that's what we really really work on every single day." —Vince Nardo

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:52) In This Episode: Keep it Simple Many different remodelers out there make their lives more complicated than they need to be. The companies that try to boil things down and make it simple are the ones that are winning. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark will spend some time talking about how you can simplify and avoid making things complicated. You will learn about the power of 3 and how it can help your thinking process and keep you on track. (17:26) Thought Leader Interview with Chris Marentis, Founder and CEO of Surefire Local Chris Marentis is the founder and CEO of Surefire Local, a digital marketing leader that helps local businesses generate new business by getting discovered online. He joins Mark today to share some insights and help you crack the code on what's happening in the digital marketing world. Tune in as they discuss how marketing has changed, the proliferation of the different channels and platforms where you can connect with customers, the 3 key principles that are important in digital marketing and more. "Reviews are the currency for visibility today...Online reviews give you a lot of leverage...You're going to want to create a strategy for yourself and ask for reviews and make it easy for customers to give your reviews." —Chris Marentis

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:04) In This Episode: Moments of Truth What are the critical points in the process that are important to get right? These are the moments of truth that will influence the success of your business. To help you understand this concept, Mark will use a traditional design-build remodeling process as an example. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, you will learn about the 12 moments of truth in the remodeling process and why you should get those moments right. (14:35) Thought Leader Interview with Dave Anderson, Senior Vice President with Service Finance Financing can be an effective tool to promote your business and get more sales. Financing can allow you to offer your customers a more attractive and affordable deal and help you reach out to homeowners who don't want to use cash for their projects. Join Mark and Dave as they discuss the advantages of dealer-arranged financing, the benefits of integrating financing to your sales and marketing process, the misconceptions surrounding financing and more. "If you look at any large marketing organization, even outside as well as inside the home improvement world, you will find an organization that has seen the value of financing and how financing can make that project of the customer's dreams attractive and affordable." —Dave Anderson Subscribe to Remodeling Mastery: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher In 2019, Mark G. Richardson is taking his popular podcast series to the next level with a fresh new format in store for listeners. Mark will be integrating interviews with thought leaders who have experienced tremendous success in the industry and growing their own businesses to share snippets of wisdom to help you achieve the same. Additionally, Mark is bringing in some experts to share key indicators that they’re seeing out there in the marketplace that could have a monumental impact on your business.

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:05) In This Episode: Softening in the Market Preparation is key to the success of every business. We've experienced 10 years of growth in the remodeling industry, so it's only sensible to start preparing for an eventual softening of the market. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark gives suggestions and insights that will help you prepare for a softer market. Tune in to learn 7 tips that will help increase the resilience of your business. (12:59) Thought Leader Interview with Anthony Mathews, Transitions Expert Do you have a plan for an exit or transition out of your business? If not, then Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs might be the answer to this problem. When you own a productive asset like a business, one of the principal ways that it changes ownership is through inheritance. However, this family transition is becoming less common. Join Mark and Anthony as they discuss how ESOPs can be a good option for business owners who have reached the end of their career. “Something that I'm really concerned about, as an advisor to businesses, is the number of businesses, especially small to mid-sized ones, that I see where the intent is just to liquidate the company... That for me is very troubling because it means that not only are we losing a productive asset from our culture but we're losing jobs, we're losing a tax base...One of the things that we've been working a lot with was this notion of letting companies continue but in the form of an employee-owned venture.” —Anthony Mathews Subscribe to Remodeling Mastery: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher In 2019, Mark G. Richardson is taking his popular podcast series to the next level with a fresh new format in store for listeners. Mark will be integrating interviews with thought leaders who have experienced tremendous success in the industry and growing their own businesses to share snippets of wisdom to help you achieve the same. Additionally, Mark is bringing in some experts to share key indicators that they’re seeing out there in the marketplace that could have a monumental impact on your business.

If you’re looking to grow your business or carry it through an economic downturn, few things are as valuable as understanding consumer behavior and learning from the experience of other successful remodelers. We’ve got both in this episode of Remodeling Mastery. Don’t miss out! In this episode: (0:55) In This Episode: Questions A lot of times we're moving along so fast and so furious, that we don't spend enough time thinking about things as opposed to doing things. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark explains the importance of asking yourself the right questions. Good questions allow you to reflect on subjects and come up with new ideas and perspectives. Tune in to find out the 7 questions you should be asking yourself to help you focus and work more effectively. (9:34) Thought Leader Interview with Erika Taylor, Director of Content for Professional Remodeler Erika Taylor is the chief of content for one of the top construction and remodeling trade publications in the country. She joins Mark today to share some of her insights into the latest trends and issues in the industry. Tune in as they discuss the increased investment of private equity companies in the home improvement space, franchising and how more remodelers are focusing their social media efforts on Instagram. “People with a lot of money to invest are seeing the industry as a really good place to get the ROI that they want, and I see it as a positive sign for all of us.” —Erika Taylor

Thank you for listening to Remodeling Mastery! Become one of our 50,000 listeners by subscribing today—just search for ‘Remodeling Mastery’ on your podcast app of choice. (1:58) In This Episode: Risk How do you think about risk and apply it to your day-to-day process? If you're a builder or remodeler, then it's important for you to be in the wave, not ahead of it and not behind it. Learning how to deal with risk can help you achieve that. In this episode of Remodeling Mastery, Mark goes over seven tips about risk to help you integrate risk into your decision-making process and explains how this can help you be more successful. (12:56) Thought Leader Interview with Eric Minkiewicz, President and CEO of Huff ‘N Puff Eric grew his family's business that had under a million in revenue to over 20 million in revenue. He applied the sound business principles from his career in finance and technology to give Huff ‘N Puff the consistency, standards and reliability of a Fortune 500 company. Tune in as he and Mark discuss the importance of focusing on what your company does best, developing your people, and more. “I would say the single most important success factor for me has been surrounding myself with the best people that I possibly can...Surround yourself with the best people that you can, in every relationship that you have.” —Eric Minkiewicz