Shawn McCadden founded, operated, and sold a successful design/build remodeling business. A co-founder of the Residential Design/Build Institute and former director of education for a national K&B remodeling franchise, Shawn frequently speaks at industry events and consults with remodeling companies. shawnm@charter.net.
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Last month I wrote about differentiating your business within your marketplace. To attract the right clients and projects, nothing beats well-worded testimonials for demonstrating those differences.
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Jerry Garcia, guitarist for the Grateful Dead, once said, “You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do.” Smart remodelers looking to distinguish themselves within their marketplace might want to heed Garcia's advice.
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There's a little bit of the Lone Ranger in every remodeling entrepreneur. Enable your team to solve and prevent problems, so you can ride off into the sunset.
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Optimists by nature, most remodelers are also good, caring people — admirable traits that often, unfortunately, conflict with one another. Because we're optimists, we want things to work out, such as new hires and big projects. Because we care, we want to give the employee or the client plenty of...
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Fans of the old TV show M*A*S*H will remember Radar O'Reilly, the affable young corporal with an almost otherworldly ability to anticipate needs and provide answers before anyone even got around to asking.
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Ever get that feeling as you lie awake in the middle of the night? Your mind starts racing and you can't fall back asleep. Questions and scenarios fly by as you toss and turn: What has to get done the next day; did that customer get billed; who will be where; does the crew have everything they...
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Anticipate challenges, dodge chaos, stay ahead of the competition.
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It's as clear as the eye can see: the sea of disgruntled customers after a remodeling project. Like television meteorologists, we as remodelers should forecast the remodeling process in terms that customers can understand.
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As a frequent speaker at industry meetings, I see the consequences of cell phone over-reliance. At every scheduled break, between seminars, I witness a sea of contractors and their employees with cell phones glued to their ears.
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Are you doing award-worthy work? It all depends. There is a huge gap between remodeling companies that produce stunning results for clients and those that also produce stunning results for their business.