A new year offers new beginnings. Past challenges, disappointments and even failures are history, and in spite of the sting that sometimes remains, the prospect of a new beginning fosters hope. And hope is a driving force that keeps us looking forward to a brighter future. But hope is not a strategy. Diving into [...]
One resource that has the potential to help leverage all others, and gain exceptional business outcomes as a result, is Competitive Advantage. It is perhaps one of the single-most underappreciated assets available to a business every day! With a clear understanding of what it really is, your day to capture it could be today. Competitive [...]
Being indispensable may seem like a good idea; and it can be if your main focus is job security. But the leader who finds comfort in being indispensable is one who finds it difficult to give up control. Ironically, it’s our love affair with certainty that creates one of the most definitive roadblocks to long-term [...]
Recycling old problems One of the most frustrating challenges in the building industry is watching profit slip away due to costly and often unnecessary mistakes. It hurts to feel like we’ve been victimized in spite of hours of hard work and preparation; especially considering the negative impact on our bottom line. That’s called ‘lose-win’, and [...]
Good people want and expect better than average compensation. To think that we will hire and keep the best and brightest when offering “market rate” salaries and benefits is, at best, status-quo thinking, and at worst, a formula for failure. But how can a business owner build a winning team without spending excessively and playing [...]
As unpleasant as it is, conflict is an ever-present and potentially costly danger. When people come together in a work environment, we should expect that at some point, conflict will rear its ugly head, rather than hope or assume it will not happen. Knowing that most conflict is initiated either from incongruence of values or [...]
The building business demands a lot! There is always too much to do and too little time to do it. Time evaporates in spite of our best efforts to get more done. To-do lists get longer instead of shorter. For many of us that leaves only one choice – work harder and longer. What is [...]
Today more than ever home buyers and remodeling customers are fixated on price. Our nation’s consumer mindset is an intangible force behind most sales negotiations, including those involving major purchases of new homes or remodeling projects. The impact on our industry is builders feeling beat up and exhausted trying to overcome this issue and ultimately [...]
When I ask builders to talk about their most important goals, none has ever said it was to be busy. While being ‘busy’ is commonly associated with having a lot of business on the books – a result of making a lot of sales, of being successful, ‘busyness’ is another story. Busyness is a behavior [...]
It goes without saying that every business owner wants great results. A few have the discipline to create and follow a plan to produce those desired results. However, many default to busyness and assume that they are reaching their goals, only to be met with frustration. That’s called the “status-quo”. We want great results, but unintentionally [...]
