For the next three months, I’m going to tackle this issue, drawing from advice from some of the foremost experts I know who are experienced at trade recruitment, training and retention. In particular, I’m going to lean on my friend Al Levi, who heads Appleseed Business Inc.
If you still do not believe there is an emerging market for “green” and “sustainable” roofing, you really have to start paying better attention to current events. Throughout 2006, we witnessed report after report on the dangers of global warming and humankind’s activities that are exacerbating the problem.
Take a moment to listen to the sounds of your office. What do you hear? Are there people talking, trucks pulling out of the lot, and the phone ringing? The most important of those sounds is that last one. Every ring of that phone in your office is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to serve a client, bring in some revenue, and gain a referral.
The only problem is that when we get busy, those rings of the phone begin to feel like a real nuisance, especially if you’re the owner. Somehow when we’re busy, the sweet sound of that phone ringing can just send us into a rage.
EPDM systems have been on the United States commercial roofing market since the 1960s. Their widespread use began in the 1980s, and the technology has developed a favorable market share in the industry since that time. Their rise in market share correlated with the energy crisis in the United States during the 1970s (which drove the price of bitumen up due to higher oil prices), the development boom of the 1980s and increasing roofing labor shortages. The size of the membrane sheets (typically 20 feet by 100 feet) allowed contractors to install the systems with less labor and virtually no equipment. These factors quickly contributed to their widespread acceptance, as they were more economical to install over the labor-intensive, equipment-laden built-up roof systems.
In last month’s article (“Detecting and Developing Latino Leadership”), we learned how to spot leaders among your Latino workforce. Now let’s take a serious look at how to develop Latino leadership.
I mean, you can be great at scouting out talent, but if you don’t know how to coach that talent to reach its maximum potential, it does you very little good. At best, your people will be operating on their natural abilities, but these abilities will not be honed nor maximized in your organization.
Firing an employee is every boss’s least favorite part of the job. These days it can also be perilous from a legal standpoint - and occasionally physically threatening as well. Yet, sooner or later almost every employer finds it necessary to carry out this unpleasant duty.
Many business owners think they will sell their business and use those proceeds to retire. Such thoughts can be driven by a desire to escape the stress of managing a business, the hassle of dealing with employees or just getting bored with the whole process. Or maybe you just want to obtain something out of those years of toil you have put in building your business. Possibly you dream of simply playing golf, going fishing and enjoying the good life. But is your business really saleable?
My good friend David Stewart and I recently spent a week in Biloxi helping some folks rebuild their homes from damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina. It may not be page one news anymore (the Mississippi Gulf coast may never have been page one news), but there are still thousands of homes that remain uninhabitable a year and a half later.
While in preparations to pontificate and prognosticate and otherwise wax philosophical about the prospects for the roofing industry in 2007, I find myself too distracted by events of the present.
Who wants a lump of coal? You know the type of leads that I’m talking about. They’re the ones where the homeowner is just shopping around for help with the tiniest of problems. You’re probably scrambling around, like an owner with his head cut off, and here’s this ring from the phone. Could be a huge replacement job that would bring in gobs of revenue, but no, it’s just your average homeowner looking for someone to get their cat off the roof.
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