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This is the Contractor Evolution Podcast. We unpack the systems, tactics, and skills you need to take your fast-growing contracting business to the next level. If you’re here to learn what it takes to scale up, work less, and increase profits, you’ve come to the right place.
Join 20,000+ contractors that learn from Contractor Evolution. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
Trending Episode
Accountability: Are Your People Doing What You Pay Them To Do?
So if you listen to this show with any regularity, it’s pretty safe to say the organism that is your business is evolving. And while that’s an exciting feeling, it also brings about a feeling of uncertainty you’re probably familiar with… are my people doing what I hired them to do? Are they an ROI-generating asset for my business? Or are they just an expense? Are they executing at the level that I was back when I was doing their job (and a million others)? Or are they a costly piece of dead weight?
Learn how Dave runs a tight ship of 24, and how he uses one on one Goal Setting and Review meetings (or GSR for short) to lead his 5 project managers.
So if you listen to this show with any regularity, it’s pretty safe to say the organism that is your business is evolving. And while that’s an exciting feeling, it also brings about a feeling of uncertainty you’re probably familiar with…. Are my people doing what I hired them to do? Are they an ROI-generating asset for my business? Or are they just an expense? Are they executing at the level that I was back when I was doing their job (and a million others)? Or are they a costly piece of dead weight?
I realize that might sound a little cynical. Or like we’re assuming the worst. But I’m sure most of you have had this thought cross your mind at least once or twice.
When your business was small and simple. This question was pretty easy to answer. If you hired a laborer to work alongside you, you could see with your own two eyes that they’re completely effing the D. There’s the door. Bye!
But as your company evolves, roles become more complex and nuanced, layers get added to the organizational chart, truly knowing how people are performing becomes less clear.
So the question becomes…. How do we, as leaders, manage at scale? How do we make sure our individual team members are executing on their individual goals, so that we as a company hit ours?
To answer this question we brought Dave Stephens on the show. Dave’s company, Lida Homes is an 8 figure custom home builder and high end renovation contractor. He runs a tight ship of 24, and specifically in this show we’re going to learn how he uses one on one Goal Setting and Review meetings (or GSR for short) to lead his 5 project managers to create award winning homes and customer experience.
Over the last 3 years, he’s won the Canadian Home Builders Association builder of the year award, and over the last two has received the highest level customer satisfaction award in his Vancouver Island region. Dave directly attributes this success and recognition to the way he leads his team through GSR.
His people do their jobs. Extremely well.
In today’s Episode:
- What a GSR is and why it is important to both quality and growth in your business
- How to use a point system in your GSRs to create black and white accountability
- What a contracting business looks like before implementing GSRs vs after implementing GSRs
- How you can expect your team (especially your PM’s) to respond when you introduce GSRs
- What a great GSR with a project manager specifically looks like
- How to have a hard conversation with an employee who is underperforming
To get your free GSR template (for a Project Manager) go to https://trybta.com/PCDLEP28
Accountability: Are Your People Doing What You Pay Them To Do? - with Dave Stephens
So if you listen to this show with any regularity, it’s pretty safe to say the organism that is your business is evolving. And while that’s an exciting feeling, it also brings about a feeling of uncertainty you’re probably familiar with…. Are my people doing what I hired them to do? Are they an ROI-generating asset for my business? Or are they just an expense? Are they executing at the level that I was back when I was doing their job (and a million others)? Or are they a costly piece of dead weight?
So if you listen to this show with any regularity, it’s pretty safe to say the organism that is your business is evolving. And while that’s an exciting feeling, it also brings about a feeling of uncertainty you’re probably familiar with…. Are my people doing what I hired them to do? Are they an ROI-generating asset for my business? Or are they just an expense? Are they executing at the level that I was back when I was doing their job (and a million others)? Or are they a costly piece of dead weight?
I realize that might sound a little cynical. Or like we’re assuming the worst. But I’m sure most of you have had this thought cross your mind at least once or twice.
When your business was small and simple. This question was pretty easy to answer. If you hired a laborer to work alongside you, you could see with your own two eyes that they’re completely effing the D. There’s the door. Bye!
But as your company evolves, roles become more complex and nuanced, layers get added to the organizational chart, truly knowing how people are performing becomes less clear.
So the question becomes…. How do we, as leaders, manage at scale? How do we make sure our individual team members are executing on their individual goals, so that we as a company hit ours?
To answer this question we brought Dave Stephens on the show. Dave’s company, Lida Homes is an 8 figure custom home builder and high end renovation contractor. He runs a tight ship of 24, and specifically in this show we’re going to learn how he uses one on one Goal Setting and Review meetings (or GSR for short) to lead his 5 project managers to create award winning homes and customer experience.
Over the last 3 years, he’s won the Canadian Home Builders Association builder of the year award, and over the last two has received the highest level customer satisfaction award in his Vancouver Island region. Dave directly attributes this success and recognition to the way he leads his team through GSR.
His people do their jobs. Extremely well.
In today’s Episode:
- What a GSR is and why it is important to both quality and growth in your business
- How to use a point system in your GSRs to create black and white accountability
- What a contracting business looks like before implementing GSRs vs after implementing GSRs
- How you can expect your team (especially your PM’s) to respond when you introduce GSRs
- What a great GSR with a project manager specifically looks like
- How to have a hard conversation with an employee who is underperforming
To get your free GSR template (for a Project Manager) go to https://trybta.com/PCDLEP28
Master Class: Ultimate Hiring Funnel Series
So look - it is no secret that hiring is hard. Like really hard. Especially in our construction and trade industries. Labor shortages are a real thing, and yes, perhaps Millennials and Gen Z’ers aren't as gritty as older Generations may have been. And also yes, the government has paid a bunch of people to stay at home for over a year-and-a-half leading to a super lethargic Workforce. We get it. But look, it is what it is and can’t do much about the above factors. What you can do though is build the best hiring funnel in your market. Over a 6-part series, we explain in plain English how you can think like a marketer and start building an Employer Brand that attracts top talent. Whether you are a seasoned pro or just starting your business if you want to build your dream team, this series is for you.
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Optimize Your Business’s Instagram For Lead Flow - Sean Walford
Love it or hate it, Instagram can deliver impressive results for your construction business. If you’ve become disenfranchised (as so many have) with this platform, this week’s episode is the antidote. For many contractors, Instagram is a time-sucking vanity project with no ROI, but for our guest Sean Walford, it’s a hyper-efficient lead-generating machine.
Love it or hate it, Instagram can deliver impressive results for your construction business. If you’ve become disenfranchised (as so many have) with this platform, this week’s episode is the antidote.
For many contractors, Instagram is a time-sucking vanity project with no ROI, but for our guest Sean Walford, it’s a hyper-efficient lead-generating machine.
Get this… Sean’s Edmonton-based renovations company gets 70% of its sales directly from
‘the gram’ – and he hasn’t even been at it that long! Two short years ago, he decided to pour some focus into this platform and has since built up a super-engaged following of 12,000 that BUY.
Today his gonna peel back the curtain and tell us exactly how he did it. We discuss posting strategy, comment management, and how to embed CTA’s that convert followers into leads.
So if you’re tired of mediocre Instagram results, watch this episode.
16 Signs You’ve Hired The Wrong Person - Benji Carlson
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar…. You hired someone a month back. When you called to tell this person they got the job, you were excited, and so were they. But now the glimmer is gone. The excitement you felt is slowly turning into doubt. There are a couple of things about this new hire you didn’t see before:
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar…
You hired someone a month back. When you called to tell this person they got the job, you were excited, and so were they.
But now the glimmer is gone. The excitement you felt is slowly turning into doubt. There are a couple of things about this new hire you didn’t see before:
- They don’t have the skills their resume led you to believe they did.
- They aren’t the team player you hoped they were.
- Their reliability is hit-and-miss.
- They need an attitude adjustment.
- [insert behavior you’re not loving]
The reality is even great team builders don’t shoot 100%. Look at professional sports, and you’ll see first-round draft picks that end up being busts. Major contracts awarded that only a year later seem totally boneheaded.
If the most sophisticated and well-resourced team builders in the world get it wrong from time to time, it seems probable that you in your business are going to as well. No sweat. Part of the journey.
The question is, how do you deal with it?
Do you exit quickly, learn and bounce back? Or do you let this mistake linger and fester?
Today’s episode is 16 Signs You’ve Hired The Wrong Person. To hear them all, watch this episode.
Driving Alignment: The Power of Performance Pay - Shane Bannerman
One of the most common questions we get is: how should I pay my people? This makes sense when you think about how influential your compensation plans are to the success of your business and the people inside it.
One of the most common questions we get is: how should I pay my people?
This makes sense when you think about how influential your compensation plans are to the success of your business and the people inside it.
- Is what I’m offering compelling enough to attract the talent I need?
- Am I using incentives and bonuses effectively to get staff focused on the right things?
- Is dolling out cash at the end of the year out of the goodness of my heart the right way of going about it?
The value in answering these questions can’t be overstated, and yet, you don’t hear people having money conversations like this all that often – at least not openly.
“Performance Pay” is one of the best ways to align the goals of the individual with the goals of the organization – share the gain, share the pain.
Shane Bannerman, one of our incredible Breakthrough Academy coaches, is here today to explain how to set up performance pay for the archetypal roles most contracting businesses have: production managers, field staff, salespeople, and administrators. Shane coaches over 40 different BTA companies. He’s seen firsthand the comp plans that drive results and those that FLOP!
Watch this episode for deep dive into performance pay for contractors!
Selling Through A Downturn - Marcus Sheridan
Our guest on the show today is globally renowned speaker and consultant: Marcus Sheridan. Author of They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale. Marcus is the go-to guy for content marketing and inbound sales (especially for contractors and home services). His philosophy is simple but powerful: If your customers are asking about it, you should be creating content around it.
Our guest on the show today is globally renowned speaker and consultant: Marcus Sheridan. Author of They Ask, You Answer and The Visual Sale.
Marcus is the go-to guy for content marketing and inbound sales (especially for contractors and home services). His philosophy is simple but powerful: If your customers are asking about it, you should be creating content around it.
Getting out in front of the concerns and questions of your potential buyers is the easiest way to build authority and elevate your company from “one in a sea of options” to “the only one” they want to do business with.
Expect to Learn:
- How to build trust and transparency through your website’s content using “The Big 5” framework – turning visitors into buyers while exponentially increasing site traffic
- Just how educated the modern buyer truly is and why relying on uninformed clients is no longer a viable marketing strategy (if it ever was)
- Marcus’ insights on navigating through a changing market, having carefully steered River Pools through the 08 financial crisis and into one of the most successful pool franchises in the US
Making great content doesn’t have to be hard, you just have to know where to start.
Skill Up New Crews Faster With DORAGI - Benji Carlson
Don’t know if you’ve noticed… but new employees often come with more skill gaps than advertised. How many times have you hired someone you thought had certain skills only to find out on-site that they, in fact, do not have said skills? The reality is when it comes to the talent pool, almost no one is truly “plug and play.”
Don’t know if you’ve noticed… but new employees often come with more skill gaps than advertised.
How many times have you hired someone you thought had certain skills only to find out on-site that they, in fact, do not have said skills? The reality is when it comes to the talent pool, almost no one is truly “plug and play.”
There are hundreds if not thousands of intricacies and nuances about how YOU do things, and that doesn’t always line up with how your new recruits have been trained via their previous employers, experience, or education.
See… transferring skill is a SKILL in and of itself, and it’s one we see contractors struggle with.
Today’s episode is about DORAGI, a framework for skill transfer that dramatically compresses learning curves.
If you want better-equipped crews in less time, click the links below to listen to the full episode!
IT’S TIME TO GET OUT OF THE DAY-TO-DAY
If you are a 7 figure contractor who has the vision to scale to 8 figures without adding more stress, then learn how to replace yourself with this proven management system. Take the 10-day ‘Evolved Contractor’ challenge and identify the methods that will scale your business.
MEET THE HOSTS
BENJI CARLSON
Benji gained insights into the trades as a 4-year franchisee with College Pro Painters, earning accolades for having the most productive staff in the franchise network. Since then, Benji has run in-depth business assessments with over 1000 contractors and now uses that information to represent the interests of contractors on the show 'Contractor Evolution’ whose goal is to arm smart contractors with the skills they need to grow.
IGOR TRNINIC
Igor has an impressive track record running trade businesses. He started by building up to a GM with College Pro Painters, running a $2.5MM business. He then co-started the franchise SHACK SHINE, which was acquired within 18 months. Igor is a co-founder of Breakthrough Academy, which coaches over 500 contractors (with a combined $1.6B in revenue) on how to systemize their businesses for growth.
HOW DOES A $20M CONTRACTING BUSINESS RUN? WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND OUT?
Take the 10-day ‘Evolved Contractor’ challenge and identify the methods that will scale your business past 8-figures.
TAKE THE CHALLENGEGET FREE TOOLS & RESOURCES
You don’t need to create everything yourself. Use our FREE tools and templates to crush everything from your hiring process to budgeting.
RECLAIM 5 HOURS PER WEEK TOOL
- Use this tool to redistribute high-time/low-skill tasks that eat up your entire workday
- Reclaim time in your week to focus on the business, not in the business
- Understand where you make the company money so you can double down on what is best for the business (and usually what you’d rather be doing anyway)
- Potentially open up free time for things outside of work, like friends and family
STRATEGIC PLANNING TOOL
- This one-page strategic planning tool is quick to build with our pre-populated template
- Easy to understand and share so you can get your whole organization aligned and pulling in the same direction
- Makes you look like a strategic planning genius, and gives your team confidence that the company is heading in a positive direction
IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE + JOB POSTING
- Use this tool to stop hiring employees that street you out and cost you time, money and your sanity
- Figure out who you’re actually trying to recruit that will bring a solid ROI for the position (#IdealCandidate)
- Build sexy job posts that appeal to competent candidates and repel the rest
- Lay clear expectations so you won’t have to fight fires because of future confusion about responsibilities