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I once heard someone say that passion doesn’t build businesses. Really? To be the best at what you do, you have to love it–your passion is your business. Passion shows in your management, your meetings, and your systems. Your passion should motivate you and others.
Lead By Example
Your team and your strategic partners will feed off of what you do, how you act and your work ethic. Your leadership is the driving force in your company. Treat people with respect, treat them fairly, and your team will copy the standard you set the next time they are faced with an important decision. Go the extra mile for a customer and watch how your team reacts—your service and attitude will be embedded in their minds every time they are face-to-face with a client. When I work with a remodeling client, I get very passionate. I want to see the company owner’s mad passion for making a difference in their client’s lives, and I want to make a difference in their company. One of the most passionate and dedicated business owners I know is Paul Klassen of The Pinnacle Group. He is involved in every aspect of his company–from production to sales to marketing. He preaches customer service and being on top of the details, while providing an everyday example for his team. Paul follows the “man in the middle” philosophy I talked about in a previous blog.
Take Action
Today’s market is challenging. Sometimes, out of frustration, we make excuses about our decisions or actions. When does this mentality stop? I challenge you to set the excuses aside and get passionate about succeeding. Start believing and begin to regain control by starting with the little things. Your passion for the details will get results. If you need to improve sales, come up with an action plan. If you want more leads from your marketing, create a plan to and track the results. Here is one idea for tracking results that Idiscussed a few months ago.
Your Responsibility
You are the only person that can control your future. I encourage you to turn on your favorite motivational song, reconnect with what brought you to the remodeling business, and start making a difference today. Your positive attitude will spread to your employees, to your strategic partners and your customers.
From the Remodelong Blog
It is very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day events of running a business, even for the most organized remodeling owners. Depending on your business model, there may be sales people, production managers, office staff and, yes of course, customers. Having to manage many facets of your company can seem overwhelming at times. So how do you maximize everyone’s performance?
I remember the early years in my remodeling business and the feeling of anxiety that when I put the keys in the front door to the office at 6 a.m. and thinking, “What do I have in store for me today?” I knew then I need to know the pulse of my business, so I could feel in control and lessen the anxiety.
I talked it through with my mentor, who told me it’s extremely important to be the “man in the middle.” As a business owner you have to be the one that receives all the important information through meetings and reports with key employees. I discussed this in a previous blog, Building a Culture of Success.
The owner has to be the center hub—the “person in the middle.” There are three aspects to maximizing employee performance. You have to monitor, motivate, and hold them accountable.
Monitor
Everyone needs to know your company standards and procedures. The best way to ensure these standards are met is to follow up on leads, projects, service calls, and talking to current clients. Once you have their feedback, evaluate it. Review issues with the proper personnel. Let them know you are involved. If you have a large number of projects, it may be difficult to collect this information. If that is the case, spot check the projects. Review the information with you team, and take this as an opportunity to train them and make recommendations for improvement.
For example, you can visit projects on a consistent basis to inspect the progress, monitor your crews and subcontractors, and talk with your customers. These visits also let the team know I cared and built confidence with our customers. My crews knew I would arrive unannounced anytime. This made them more productive, quality minded, and efficient.
Motivate
When you take the time to monitor your team’s progress, don’t let this information go to waste. Are you happy with the progress or results? Is there room to improve communication, the quality of the workmanship, the ordering process, scheduling, and job site safety and cleanliness? Educate the team members on how they can improve in these categories and help them set goals for implementing more effective practices.
Accountability
By consistently monitoring and motivating your team, you should see progress. For the best results, you should set specific goals for each person. Show them the path on how to reach those goals. Attaching a deadline for achieving the goal will ensure that it happens in a timely manner.
Building a culture of success and enhancing your customers experience will truly grow your business with a positive reputation, which should also increase the bottom line. Be the person in the middle and watch the positive changes in your business!
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As the ” Man in the Middle,” or person in the middle or being the owner, you are your company’s biggest asset and the best representative of your business.
Many business owners are more focused than ever on their marketing efforts. I have mentioned before that the definition of marketing that should be adopted today is about getting someone who has a need, to “know, like and trust” you. There is no better marketing plan than having the owner of a business visit his or her clients at their home and being involved in the project. So get out from behind your desk and be your biggest marketing asset.
When a customer hires you they expect that there will be consistent progress and quality workmanship to complete the project. These are their basic expectations and not anything they consider astonishing. What is astonishing? Astonishing is doing something no one else can do. When the owner of the company visits the homeowners and makes a concentrated effort to talk with them about the project and focuses on making their personal experience remarkable, then you are on your way to creating an astonishing experience.
If you want to learn something about your customers and the pulse of your business, visit one of your projects. Talk to your customers. Not only will you earn that “know, like and trust,” but you will learn more about your business, get to know neighbors, and develop relationships with your tradesman and employees. When your workers know you may be around the corner or on your way to their project, their efficiency and craftsmanship will reach their highest levels.
When I was operating my business, I would make daily visits to projects. I would review jobsite cleanliness and quality control, observe our workmanship and talk with the customers. When I visited the project and the customer was not home, I would leave a note that I was there and make written observations and leave them on the communications board. My clients knew from our first meeting that I would be very involved in their project. This was also part of my sales process. I wanted them to feel they had our team’s personal attention. I knew if I put forth this kind of effort that everyone on my team would and could be expected to do the same.
With regular visits to projects, I found that the quality of work, job staging and cleanliness of tradesmen improved. The most beneficial aspect of getting out from behind the desk was that our business was more “refer-able,” a key to success in today’s economy.
