Having the right culture in your company is vital to its success. The culture that exists in a company can make or break it, so it is important to make sure the right culture is proactively developed. By not taking a proactive approach the culture will simply evolve in a random way by usually drifting…
In your salesperson role, your objective is to serve, not to sell. Whenever you go in to see a client or prospective client, and especially when you meet someone for the very first time, you have to go in wearing your problem-solving hat. Your objective is to help your prospective client find solutions to their…
This week I am borrowing a blog post from Grocorp.co in the US who produce an app to measure labour productivity on a construction project. Whether you use technology like this or pencil and paper, the principles are the same. What you can measure you can manage. What you can manage you can change (for the…
It’s Monday morning and you don’t have enough cash on hand to make Thursday’s payroll – What options do you have? Cash flow crunches affect every business. Ideally, you can weather these crises by accessing a line of credit or revolving loan you’ve already set up with your bank, or tapping into cash reserves you’ve put…
Running a trade business (or any business for that matter) can be likened to running a 4 x 100m relay race. When everything runs smoothly and the baton is passed from hand-to-hand seamlessly, it is a pleasure to behold. Drop the baton at some critical stage and all the good work done to date is…
Unlikely that you spend as much time as me in the office, but if you do and find it hard to stay focused on the task at hand, try this technique. I call it 50:15 and it may help you become way more effective. Rather than trying to sit there for hours until the job…
The following is a cut down version of a post I read on a US website from George Hedley. He is a business coach much like myself and focuses on the construction industry. If you want to check him out his website is www.hardhatpresentations.com I like and agree with what he says and thought you…
Labour is biggest maker or breaker in project profitability in the construction industry. A 5% swing either way can cause a 50% swing in net profit. This is particularly true for renovation projects, where the labour component typically represents a higher proportion of the total cost, compared to new builds. The work is also more…
Made any New Year resolutions this month? By any chance were they the same ones you set last year, because they were the ones you didn’t quite reach the year before? Are you wasting your time with New Year resolutions and are they just pipe dreams that won’t make it past February? If you are…
So it is late November, 2014. The year is fast drawing to a close and 2015 is just around the corner. A chance for a fresh start and to really achieve better results than last year. So what are you going to do different in 2015 that will actually make a change in your situation…