Team meetings are all about making sure everyone is on the same page. When it comes to driving growth and making informed decisions in your highway construction business, structured team meetings can empower your team, ensure clarity, keep everyone focused on driving growth and making informed decisions, and keep the company aligned with its strategic goals.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn about a meeting structure for facilitating clear communication, alignm...
Are you falling short of your forecasted business numbers right now?You’ve probably felt the possibility of a downturn coming, and you’re not alone. In the last few weeks, folks across the industry have been having tough conversations about being off track in their business. But why?As the recent good times rolled on, many started slacking off in one key area--their sales team. They’ve reduced them or stopped providing ongoing training. Now that things are slowing, it’s time to get back to so...
Last week, you heard me talk about why understanding your workforce is important to recruiting and retaining top talent in your construction company. Now you need to know how implementing the data gathered from those employee interviews and surveys can affect your results and how to measure their impact.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll hear part two of my interview with CONEXPO where I discuss the influence of your employee research on your company and how to analy...
CONEXPO isn’t just the largest construction show in North America. It also has an incredible amount of content on its website with articles, interviews, and other very helpful resources. So when they asked if I was willing to be interviewed for an article, I jumped at the chance!In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll hear part one of my interview with Gregg, where I talk about understanding your workforce and improving your recruitment, development, and retention through...
When you look up at the end of the week, does it feel like it’s gotten away from you? You put in work, but you don’t necessarily feel like it was the most efficient use of your time. You want to do more with less and ensure you and your team are focusing your time (and energy) and where it’s needed most.But how? There are micro-specific ways you can leverage as part of your process. I’ve been working on something inside my business to restructure my workweek that works great for those I chall...
You’re at the point where you need to get serious about marketing. Yet, you feel like marketing can be a real drain on your resources. And it can be, unless it’s done right. So how do you do it in a cost-effective and adaptable way? Bringing on board a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO) might be the right avenue for your business.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll hear examples of how a fractional CMO can help with the marketing side of your business. I’ll...
“If we’ve lost an employee in a really significant role, should I use a headhunter?”This question often comes up when we’re focused on workforce strategy with businesses, and there are both positives and negatives to hiring a headhunter or recruiter to replace a key employee. So how do you decide if it’s the right thing to do for your company?In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn some of the pros and cons of using a headhunter to recruit someone to fill a key role...
How do you increase the percentage of closes you get during the proposal phase?An often overlooked but important element can shorten your sales cycle and make it easier for your construction sales team to close the deal. It helps extract the information you need and is something your competition isn’t likely to do. You simply have to appeal to the emotional things that trigger people into making decisions through the power of storytelling.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, ...
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anybody who doesn’t like rewards. Having incentives in compensation packages for your employees helps you grow your highway construction business. You increase the likelihood of hiring and retaining workers who’ll want to show up consistently and perform their best, stay and evolve with the company, refer others, and more.However, you might need to get creative and think outside of the box a bit. And you need to avoid some of the pitfalls and challenges when com...
Explore the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the highway paving industry. AI is more than just a trendy concept; it's a potent instrument that requires a well-thought-out strategy for it to be a boon for our businesses. My own company's experience served as a case study, highlighting how AI integration, when aligned with our overarching business objectives, can significantly boost efficiency and foster growth. We delve into the ways AI can address some of the pressing ...
It’s time we dove into the hiring landscape of our highway paving construction businesses. We start by tackling the tricky task of distinguishing between toxic superstars and the much-preferred type-A team players. We’ll discuss the damaging traits of toxic superstars, who can disrupt our teams and harm our company culture. More importantly, the value of type-A team players—those with a strong work ethic, a collaborative spirit, and a willingness to grow and why coachability is a critica...
We’re sitting down with the master of sales today, Tom Reber. Get a sneak peek into the world of sales strategies and company culture as Tom imparts his knowledge on what it takes to excel in sales within our industry. Discover the secrets behind understanding customer motives and learn how to avoid the common traps that many fall into when navigating the sales process. In my engaging conversation with Tom, we delve into the art of building the perfect team and the discipline required to...
You’ve investigated and found the problems and bottlenecks in your construction business. You’ve identified the opportunities you should prioritize next. Now what?With the third and final piece of the Growth Strategy Flyheel, people sometimes forget to ensure they finish strong. In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn about some of the things that might be getting in the way of you implementing your strategy. I’ll also reveal how to increase the value of your busine...
When you investigate your construction business, you often find multiple things you either don’t like or that excite you as an opportunity. But not all problems and bottlenecks that you see as opportunities are created equal.Identifying the right opportunities to prioritize is where you can screw everything up. You might need to address something first because it has a more significant impact on your business right now. Or you might need to fix a specific problem first because of its domino e...
When people look at your business and think about where it’ll take them in the future, what do they see?If they invest in it, they want to see the strategy. They want to know that the company has momentum, processes, and systems designed to create value.This is what the strategic growth flywheel helps you do. And it all starts with the first step: investigate.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn how to dive deep into the investigation phase. I’ll teach you how ta...
Almost half of business leaders have strategic planning failure because they can’t adequately track the execution of their strategy. But you need an effective strategy, though--an informed one.Does your business have a flexible framework with a top-end strategy in mind? A strategic growth flywheel provides a simple tool to generate great output that can be repeatedly used in your business.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll get an introduction to the flywheel. I’ll gi...
Is proactive prospecting a lost art? Whether it is or not, how do you stay in touch with that side of your business?After all, without leads, your business won’t have the customers or workforce to fulfill contracts and will eventually die out. So how do you and your sales team regard this piece of the business puzzle?My friend and special podcast guest Miles Kaplanides is back for the second part of our conversation. In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, we dive into staying f...
Do you think of dealers as your adversaries?Too many contractors often think of dealers as those to avoid until something breaks down and needs replacing. But what if you saw them as true partners with the intention of helping you grow your business?Today, I have friend and industry peer Miles Kaplanides on the show to talk about the relationship between dealers and contractors and how it can be better. He has perspectives and insights on improving the construction industry from the sales sid...
Sales and marketing are essential to any business. But are they at odds with each other in yours? If so, then your business isn't as efficient as it should be.So how do you get both departments on the same page? Instead of having sales and marketing as silos, you need to embrace a concept called “smarketing” for the two areas to work in tandem.In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn how smarketing works. I’ll also walk you through the customer journey and the benefi...
The construction industry is facing a workforce obstacle right now. It’s getting harder to recruit and retain workers for your construction crews, and you’re missing out on opportunities because of it.My team and I help clients address their company’s workforce problems. But I get asked all the time specifically how we do it, so let’s dive into that today!In this episode of the Contractor’s Daughter podcast, you’ll learn about the three critical workforce problems that construction businesses...