Free Advice - The Trades Coach

Feb232025

Improve profits with lean construction

In times of tighter demand for building services margins can be further squeezed as more companies chase less opportunities. Any profit “fat” in the system quickly disappears and the risk of loss generating projects increases. Adopting lean construction principles can provide a practical framework for addressing this challenge, helping businesses improve efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance profitability. Originating from lean manufacturing practices pioneered by Toyota, lean construction focuses on maximising value while minimising waste — a philosophy particularly beneficial for smaller operations seeking to gain a competitive edge.

Understanding Lean Construction….

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Feb222025

5 ways to Improve Cash Flow in your Trades Business

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any construction business. Without it, even profitable companies can struggle to survive. While there are many ways to enhance cash flow, (here’s a list of 23 strategies) these five strategies stand out as the most effective for ensuring stability and long-term success. Expand the article to find out how to implement them.

1 Smaller, More Frequent Progress Payments
2 Invoice Immediately & Systemise Your Invoicing Process
3 Tighten Payment Terms & Enforce Collections
4 Negotiate Better Terms with Suppliers
5 Increase Your Prices & Sell on Value

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Feb222025

5 DIY SEO Tips to Improve Your Website Ranking

In today’s competitive digital landscape, it’s essential for trades companies to establish a strong online presence. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can significantly enhance your website’s visibility, attract more organic traffic, and ultimately help grow your business. While hiring an SEO professional is an option, the industry is full of snake oil salesmen promising you to rank on the first page of Google, all for a not-so-small monthly fee. As a construction and trades company owner you can take several actions yourself to optimise your website’s SEO performance. This article will provide you with five effective actions to implement and improve your company’s website SEO.

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Nov262024

Marketing to your local community

Small building and trades companies often rely on local clients to thrive, making a strong regional marketing strategy essential. It can also make sense to use a local marketing focus as a way to differentiate your business from your competitors, especially when they are bigger than you. With a targeted approach, you can outshine competitors and establish your brand as the go-to choice in your area. Here’s how to craft an effective local marketing campaign

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Nov182024

Navigating a Construction Business Through Economic Uncertainty: Lessons from Sailing

Running a construction business during these uncertain economic times can feel like sailing a yacht through stormy weather. Just as a skilled captain must adapt to strong headwinds and turbulent seas, you as a business owner must navigate choppy economic waters with foresight and agility. If you have a team under you, they will be looking for direction and confidence. In this post I share some strategies for steering your business through stormy economic seas.

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Jun102024

Using content to improve sales conversion

Up to half the people who first contact your business aren’t ready to buy yet. And by contact it could mean just a visit to your website without your knowledge. This is especially true if it is a discretionary spend project they have in mind or a large ticket item. Understanding the buyer’s journey is essential and creating an effective content strategy can keep the potential buyer closer to you and more likely to buy.

The buyer’s journey is often segmented into three stages: Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU), and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU). For trades businesses—such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or building services—tailoring content to these stages can significantly enhance the conversion rates for any leads. This guide outlines some content category ideas for each stage of the funnel to help you attract, engage, and convert prospects. For examples of what specific content material might suit your company at each of the customer journey stages, email me at andy@tradescoach.co.nz and I will help.

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May292024

Improve cash flow in your trades business

In order to have a successful working capital (cash flow) situation you need to have the cash cycle going as fast as possible, or increase the volume of cash invested in the business. You also need to become good at the cash flow game: making the cash come into your business as fast as possible and in as much quantity as sustainably possible and pay it out as slowly as you can get away with. There are multiple levers you can tweak to achieve this and the balance of this guide is about five of the key strategies you should look at implementing into your business. Working with an advisor like The Trades Coach will be the fastest way to have these strategies, and other relevant ones, implemented effectively into your business and watch the working capital steadily increase. Until then, read on to find out what my top 5 suggestions are.

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May162024

Effective Business Planning

Over the past 4 years or so the business world has been turned on its head. No one could have predicted the Covid pandemic and the implications that flowed from it. More recently supply lines have been majorly affected and migration flows have gone from famine to feast. In this type of environment putting a business plan together seems in many ways like a waste of time. When I look at some of the traditional business planning models used, I would tend to agree.

In my opinion it comes down to the type of business plan that is produced and the length of time taken to produce it. Many business plans are a waste of time because they are too long, too “corporate”, don’t motivate staff and are not connected to the day-to-day operations of the business. Learn how to put a simple and effective business plan together here.

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May22024

Circle of Influence

The fact that these are some of the most challenging times for builders in the past 10 years comes as no surprise. We have come through labour shortages, supply line disruptions and Covid lockdowns just to be faced with huge increases in interest rates and a drop in demand. Furthermore, the banks have factored in many of these events into their risk equation and made lending tighter for home buyers, further adding to the uncertainty.
The effect can be for people to worry about things they have no influence over and miss opportunities to improve those things they DO have influence over.

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May22024

Lead generation in construction – Step 1

There is a growing problem in the building trade. Consumer confidence has declined, the cost of living “crisis” is making some people close their wallets and interest rates are more than double what they were 2 years ago. Suddenly lead generation is top of mind for owners of construction related businesses. It can cause a bit of a downward spiral if you don’t take action. A typical story goes like this…

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