PowerTips Unscripted

Sales management can be one of the hardest jobs in a company, especially if you are both a player and coach. Sales managers are constantly focusing on how to improve their business, their team and themselves, and could use some tips along the way.  Guest David Mattson joins Victoria and Mark in this episode to share the best practices to incorporate into succeeding as a sales manager. David Mattso...

Current events have created an environment of incredible stress for homeowners across the globe. Remodelers have an opportunity to tap into their dissatisfaction with their home environments by using an empathy-based marketing approach to make an emotional connection. On this episode of Best of Powertips Unscripted, Tanya Bamford joins Victoria and Mark to share how using the right messaging, imag...

Today on PowerTips Unscripted, Lane Cooper joins the show to discuss the large project sales process. Price is a process like design. Setting our clients up for a successful pricing process is critical to large remodeling projects moving forward through design into construction. Lane walks us through his pricing process to manage clients’ price expectations. Lane Cooper is the President and...

As remodeling companies grow, owners face the challenges of deciding when leaders are needed, how to find them, and train them to be good leaders. In this episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Wayne Ottum discusses these challenges and provides tools and methodologies for facing these challenges head-on. In addition, he talks about how he helps owners create a business that works for them. Wayne Ottum...

Today on PowerTips Unscripted, Mark and Victoria are joined by Michael Hodgin to discuss using the financial review to pivot to profitability. A complete understanding and review of your company’s financials is a practice that requires a disciplined effort. However, with this practice in place, an owner will be able to use the information from these reviews to pivot when and where necessary...

In this episode, Pete Blank shares customer-service strategies from Disney with Victoria and Mark, and discusses how to apply these lessons to your remodeling company to boost your own team’s customer-service performance.  Pete has been developing leaders and improving service levels of organizations for the past 25 years — 13 of those with the Walt Disney Co. and the past 12 in local government....

The demand and absence of skilled labor is a huge challenge for remodelers across North America. We hear it from our Roundtables Members as well as from our associates, sponsors and Podcast guests. In this episode Victoria and Mark explore different ways to tackle the issue, and welcome Dan Hurst to the show to talk about how his firm effectively creates a culture and career path that provides opp...

In this episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Iris Harrell discusses the importance of having women in key positions within remodeling companies. They make up half of the US workforce, so there is a sizeable recruitment pool, and they also relate on a deeper level with female customers, who often drive decision-making. Women are multi-taskers, organizers, collaborators, and task-oriented, making them a...

Today on PowerTips Unscripted, Lauren Campuzano joins the show to discuss outsourcing 3-Dimensional (3-D) Design. 3-D designs can help remodelers sell their plans, but finding the right talent can take time and effort. Lauren found that 3-D designs were great communication tools within the design department, construction department, and sometimes with clients. Creating 3-D models in-house was diff...

Today on PowerTips Unscripted, Jeff Borovitz joins the show to discuss the top 5 remodeling sales secrets every business owner must know. In addition, Jeff talks about how sales professionals should establish a clearly defined future with clients and how that helps eliminates surprises during the sales journey.  Jeff Borovitz is the President of  Sandler Training , a company that helps train remod...

A successful remodeling business isn’t only dependent on tactics or the larger strategy behind them. A company’s culture plays a crucial role in executing any business strategy.  In this episode, Brian Gottlieb discusses the key steps needed for a business to implement their desired strategy with Victoria and Mark. Brian Gottlieb is the founder and CEO of  Tundraland Home Improvements , which serv...

On this episode of PowerTips Unscripted, Jody McLeod joins the show to answer legal questions, including whether companies are set up to withstand a legal challenge. Jody discusses the best way to ensure having a complete personnel file for each employee, including documentation of conversations and key facts,  so that you can support yourself and your company during a legal trial. Jody also advis...

Everyone would love to have raving fans — and today’s guest knows the feeling. Tom Burgoyne has had a 30-year career as the person behind the Phillie Phanatic — the most popular mascot in sports.  In this episode, Tom talks to Victoria and Mark about what the Phanatic has taught him about the importance of customer service — and how it can be a great differentiator.  Tom has learned, while in cost...

Sean Castrina joins the program to discuss why everyone should think like an entrepreneur and the importance of developing a strategy for determining what business you want to start. He shares that when he lost his job, he found another one so he could take his time to figure out his next steps.  Sean Castrina is the Founder of The Weekend MBA , host of The 10 Minute Entrepreneur Podcast (a top 10...

In today’s episode of PowerTips Unscripted, we are featuring one of our more popular episodes. If you have topic ideas for an episode or a guest we should be interviewing, send an email to victoria@remodelersadvantage.com .  Enjoy!      The Kaizen practice focuses on improving existing, standardized processes by eliminating waste and was first practiced in Japanese businesses after World War II. ...

Today on Powertips Unscripted, Dan Hurst joins the show to discuss the handoff from design to production. Dan talks about how to define the minimum standard of completeness and quality for each function or role involved in preparing the handoff packet. Dan also discusses how to use checklists for each role to ensure that quality standards are met. Dan Hurst is the COO and part owner of Hurst Desig...

Steve Barkhouse joins PowerTips Unscripted to discuss how to create a culture of mental health support in the remodeling industry. In the post covid era, Mental health has affected many employees and business owners, so Steve and his team created a framework for dealing with the added stress that comes from covid. This support framework includes a video and a full-day training session to help empl...

In this episode , Jeff Talmadge discusses how he and his team created a point system for his design staff to spread their workload.  Each designer is assigned a predetermined number of points, weighted by criteria such as permitting, scope, and complexity of the job.  The team tracks points weekly and has found that designers are less stressed, customers are given more accurate timelines, and prod...

Leads! Lead! Leads! Business is good, leads are coming in. But are you over-qualifying, under-qualifying, or doing it just right?  Chip Doyle’s got research that says 30-60 percent of business is lost because the initial phone call is handled incorrectly. So if you’re not doing it just right, you’re leaving money behind. In this episode, Chip’s back with Victoria and Mark to break down the best pr...

Hiring is on everybody’s mind these days.  But, utilizing the proper tools in the hiring process is key to ensuring you’re creating a great team.  Guest Mike DiFabion is here to share over 20 years of experience in the remodeling industry and the tips and tricks to creating a smooth, efficient hiring process. Mike started  DiFabion Remodeling, Inc.  in 2000, intending to become the best local mid-...

Many remodelers dream of one day building a high-volume remodeling company. Others aren’t sure it’s worth the effort. In this episode, we talk to Jake Schloegel about what it takes to grow a high-volume remodeling business. Why build it? Who should be involved? What are the expectations? Jake is the Founder of  Schloegel Design Remodel , an award-winning Design/Build firm in Kansas City. He starte...

As a remodeling business owner, building wealth and financial security is something you want to achieve. Unfortunately, it’s something that many put off because the needs of today are more pressing, especially with the current market. In this episode, Victoria and Mark talk to George Kall about tips and advice on planning for your future financial security today. George owns  Metro Building and Re...

Henna Pryor joins us to talk about digital messaging and sales psychology to help business owners improve their online presence. Henna discusses the 5 biggest mistakes people make when they use digital messaging including not sounding like robots and not being self-centered in our writing. Henna Pryor is an in-demand speaker, executive coach, and workplace performance expert, who was a #1 top sell...

It’s easy to be successful in a great economy. You can get away with a lot of bad habits, lack of systems, and high overhead when jobs are large and margins high. But when the economy contracts, job sizes shrink, and margins erode, those bad habits can have a huge affect on the health of your company. Focusing on the right things when times are good are key to recession-proofing your business. In...

If you’ve ever visited any Disney theme park across the globe, you may think nobody does customer service and experience like Disney. Although the execution is complex, the baseline concepts are quite simple.  In this episode, Pete Blank shares customer-service strategies from Disney with Victoria and Mark, and shows you how to apply these lessons to your remodeling company to boost your own team’...