Claim OwnershipThe Level 10 Contractor Daily Podcast
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Marketing and business-building insights, information, and inspiration to help remodeling and home services contractors make the jump to $10MM+.
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You're going to be a fly on the wall as Rich has a conversation with Level 10 Contractor Senior Copywriter, Dave Moffitt. Dave is helping one of his clients create copy for a website, and the client LIKES what Dave has written, but wants to find a headline that better captures their overall identity. Rich, of course, takes a deep dive--wanting to know not just WHAT they do… but WHY and HOW they do it. This exercise turns into a sort of karate or taekwondo lesson as Rich comes up with a bunch of short but powerful headlines that land on the reader's figurative jaw like short, sharp, forceful punches.
Another Monday means it's time for another installment of our "5 Ways To Monday" series… Today's topic: Social Proof. What we're talking about here is showing people that OTHER people who have used you actually LIKE you… here's how to get it done.
It's Sunday, and as you know, that's when Rich turns his attention to spiritual and personal growth topics, and today he's going to stick to personal growth. He recently ran across a list of advice from a gentleman named Kevn Kelly, who was one of founders of Wired magazine, and who was called "the Most Interesting Man in the World" by podcaster Tim Ferriss. Take a listen, I'm sure you'll find a few things in here--or a few dozen--that will be worth your while.
Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we discuss the importance of blogs on your website. Blogs are a great way to engage your prospects and build the case why you are the superior choice. They are also masterful tools for winning the SEO war.
Friday's podcast focuses on media buying… and Rich is going to make some pretty strong points about his favorite metric… C P M! That's right, cost per thousand. This is just one more example of why it's so important, and why it's imperative that you be fluent in media speak, or you will get killed in negotiations. First, Rich will give an overview and an explanation… then he's going to play a recording of a call between him and some media reps… this is good stuff!
Thursday's TBT podcast is a strategy call between Rich and the marketing person at a garage door and garage flooring company who is looking for a little help with their website. We are going to pick up the conversation right AFTER Rich goes through a demonstration of some really good Service Area pages on a Level 10 Client website… then he gets into a conversation about what it really takes to beat Google's Algorithm, among other things. Other topics covered include: Why other SEO companies can't seem to figure this out, how SEO is like a war… and how to strategically create troops to put into your SEO battles. This is really good stuff, and represents Level 10's latest thinking on web building and SEO.
Rich Harshaw explains why most remodeling companies are terrible at marketing: owners excel in sales or production but almost never in true marketing strategy. Without a real expert, companies rely on generic messaging, weak websites, and ineffective ads. Rich urges contractors to focus on strengths and hire specialists to win market share.
Tuesday's podcast is a book review--Rich doesn't do a whole lot of these, so you can be sure that if he's recommending--and reviewing--a book, it's probably a good one! This one is called "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath… and as the name would suggest, deals with the concept of making ideas stick in peoples' brains. This is the book where the concept of "The Curse of Knowledge" first came from… and it goes through a formula the authors call "Success" which is an acronym for Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories. S U C C E S… I guess there is only one S in their success formula… nevertheless, this is pretty good stuff.
Most print ads fail because they look identical. Rich Harshaw explains how to stand out using five strategies: vary ad sizes, get personal, go bold with design and headlines, offer helpful information guides, and tell compelling identity-based stories. These tactics trigger attention, boost leads, and dramatically improve ad performance.
Today's podcast falls more into the personal development category… and it's all about the small stuff. Or not doing the small stuff. Or trying to figure out why you're so averse to doing the small stuff. From health to wealth to relationships and spirituality… Rich's message will help you identify and DO the little things.
1Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we focus on the hub of your marketing… your website. A strong web presence is crucial to success in this day and age, and we aren't just talking about having a pretty website. Pretty is the default today. Your website has to do real work to get the proverbial date with prospects. If your website is not making a compelling argument why you are the absolute best buying decision possible, you'll lose business to the company putting in the work.
Rich takes all the data supplied to him by TV stations in Boston, and walks one of Level 10's Advertising managers through the numbers as a training exercise. So basically, you're going to get real-world training on media buying directly from Rich… right here today, on this podcast. You're going to hear Rich interpret the data through his favorite lens--CPM, or cost per thousand. During the course of the call, he points many things out to his pupil… but also calls on him to make his own conclusions… then once they've crunched the numbers, he formulates a negotiation strategy. This is hardcore stuff--but man, it's really good.
It's Thursday, so you know what that means--throwback Thursday, where we dig into the vault and pull out some marketing gold from yesteryear. And for today's podcast, that gold has to do with the topic of Identity, and the year is 2014. This is a webinar that Rich did in conjunction with longtime Level 10 Supporter, Marketsharp. This is a great overview of the Identity concept, with lots of good examples.
Rich tells a sad tale about the time he was super excited to be featured in a major national business magazine… only to be horrified when he saw what they actually wrote about him. What was supposed to be kind of a big deal turned out to be a big embarrassment. He's going to take that story and extract a few lessons from it and teach you how to deal with media opportunities… and give you some really good ideas for cultivating the kind of image and identity you want for your company in a purposeful and intentional way.
Rich Harshaw reveals the five biggest ways contractors lose profit: DIY media buying, undercharging, under-spending on PPC, weak front-end financing, and failing to communicate clear identity. Fixing these issues boosts lead flow, sales, and margins. Rich explains why each mistake costs you and how to correct it for maximum growth.
This podcast is another venture into spiritual things… Today, Rich jumps into the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and discusses one of the Beatitudes, "Blessed Are The Peacemakers."
Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we focus on your employees and their morale. You cannot operate your businesses alone; employees are the cogs that make the machine run without you. But they are more than just cogs. They should be reflections on you and the culture of your company. If that culture is negative and degrading… well, you shouldn't expect the highest performance. So how do you keep morale high and your employees humming along?
This podcast, as the title would suggest, is all about business partnerships… and more specifically, how to avoid having them go bad… and making sure you have contingency plans in place in case they do. Rich has been in two formal partnerships in his career--both of them turned out badly. Really badly. And he learned a lot of hard lessons that you're going to benefit from today. Along the way, he also witnessed other companies with bad partnership situations--some were handled well, others, horrifically bad. In fact, he's going to tell you the story of 4 siblings who owned a business together… that ripped the family apart… because they didn't have a good handle on the very rules that they ended up helping Rich learn.
Thanks for joining us for our Throwback Thursday, which ironically, comes from an old Tuesday Morning Ad Clinic webinar that Rich did in 2014. This is an interesting case: An electrician sends Rich a postcard that is intended to scare people into getting their electrical system checked out, because, you know, their house might burn down if they don't. Rich explains that people hate to pay for preventative maintenance, because, well… the fact that their house hasn't burned down yet is a pretty good indicator that the wiring must be just fine, thank you! Then he goes on to explain a better way to make the case that they need to get things checked out. Like Rich always says, "Great copy is the result of having a great idea"… and that's what today's podcast is all about.
In this episode, Rich explains why contractors must stop treating marketing like an expense and start thinking of it as an investment. He breaks down the difference between short-term "hunting" tactics (like PPC and lead aggregators) and long-term "farming" strategies (like SEO, branding, and reviews), showing how consistent marketing investments compound over time to create stability, equity, and lasting lead flow.
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