Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors-logo

Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors

Business & Economics Podcasts

The Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors podcast brings you off-the-cuff conversations from business growth and tech experts to help you grow your trade business. Whether you just started your own business or are a veteran with an expanding team, this show will keep bringing you useful ideas, interviews, tools, and tips each week to help you grow.

Location:

United States

Description:

The Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors podcast brings you off-the-cuff conversations from business growth and tech experts to help you grow your trade business. Whether you just started your own business or are a veteran with an expanding team, this show will keep bringing you useful ideas, interviews, tools, and tips each week to help you grow.

Language:

English


Episodes

All About the Numbers that Matter with Daniel Honan

2/15/2024
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by Daniel Honan of Bookkeeping For Painters about being prepared for the taxman, managing overhead, pricing, pricing, pricing and finally profitability. Learn how not to get surprised by the taxman and rock solid advice on Pricing for profits. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/ccosJ0zhazo

Duration:00:25:18

Adding Services to Your Company with Will Reyes

1/24/2024
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by Will Reyes of Battleborn Painting to talk about adding services to your company's repertoire of offerings. Learning what services will be profitable and aligned with your core skills is essential when considering adding something new on the menu for your customers. Will discusses how he added roofing coatings, gutters, and other services to his painting company, and he shares lessons he learned along the way to save you the pain of misaligned services and misdirected efforts.

Duration:00:38:29

Getting Your Marketing Back on Track with Brandon Pierpont

1/17/2024
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by Brandon Pierpont of Painter Marketing Pros to talk about how trades businesses often go off track in their marketing, spending large amounts of money but getting very little in return. Brandon discusses simple steps businesses can take to get marketing back on track and pointed in the right direction. There is no easy button in marketing, but there are processes that can help ensure you're not spending your budget on empty promises. Learn more about Painter Marketing Pros here.

Duration:00:35:23

Training as an Investment with Fred Kulik

1/10/2024
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by the Customer Success lead at Estimate Rocket, Fred Kulik, who talks with us about the kind of investment that training ought to be in every company. It takes time, money, and intention to carve out time for the proper amount of training in a company, but that investment multiplies the efficiency and profitability of teams. If this is true, why don't more companies spend more time bringing their team members up to speed on methods and technology? We chat about the reasons many companies lose sight of the importance and power of proper training, and we discuss ways to get back on track! Click here to learn more about Estimate Rocket's User Conference: Accelerated Team Training!

Duration:00:25:09

Building Winter Backlog with Jim McBrayer

1/5/2024
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by Jim McBrayer of McBrayer and Associates to discuss strategies for keeping the winter backlog full and flowing! We discuss ways to creatively plan for slow seasons, and we spend time analyzing sales processes that keep people engaged. "VBR" is a term you should know by the end of this podcast so you can get more business and keep solving customers' problems no matter what time of the year it is.

Duration:00:24:53

The Every-Contractor's Guide to Estimating (Part 2)

12/27/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, Tom Droste of Estimate Rocket share a presentation in two parts on the fundamentals of proper estimating that every trade contractor should understand to stay efficient and profitable. In this part 2 of the presentation, Tom discusses sales strategies, pricing models, production rates, best practices, and more. This is part 2 of a 2-part series. If you haven't listened to part 1, you might want to go back an episode and get caught up! Check out the full video here. Get the Estimating Best Practices Checklist here. Get the What If Planning Tool here.

Duration:00:15:12

The Every-Contractor's Guide to Estimating (Part 1)

12/21/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, Tom Droste of Estimate Rocket share a presentation in two parts on the fundamentals of proper estimating that every trade contractor should understand to stay efficient and profitable. Tom discusses production rates, accurate measurements, labor and material tracking, job costing, pricing, training new estimators, software applications, and more. This is part 1 of a 2-part series. Check out the full video here. Get the Estimating Best Practices Checklist here. Get the What If Planning Tool here.

Duration:00:26:52

Delegating that Doesn't Blow up in Your Face with Corwin Smith

12/13/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, Corwin Smith of Culture To Cash joins us to talk about why business leaders find delegating so difficult, and why efforts to start delegating often wind up ineffective. If you can't let go of what you're not good at and learn to delegate, you inevitably limit your team's growth, and frustration will negatively impact bottom line revenue and company culture. Corwin discusses barriers to understanding the need for delegation, and practical ways leadership can start developing criteria to rate their readiness to delegate specific tasks to qualified employees. Learn more about Culture To Cash!

Duration:00:31:31

Champion-Level Process for Sales and Job Management with Nick May and Stacia Newton

12/6/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, we are joined by Nick May of Walls By Design and Stacia Newton of Paper Moon Painting. Nick and Stacia are champion sales and job management process creators and we discuss pro tips that empower efficiency and profitability in business, covering topics like client communication, sales funnels, work order distribution, virtual assistants, team coordination, sales seasonality...and more! Nick and Stacia will both be presenting at the Accelerated Team Training Conference for Estimate Rocket software users on January 18-19. Register here. Also, check out the link for Virtual Assistants Nick May referred to in the podcast.

Duration:00:40:33

Estimating and Job Management Tech with Nick Slavik and Tom Droste

11/29/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, we re-share a conversation by Nick Slavik, host of Ask A Painter LIVE, and Tom Droste, Founder/CEO of Estimate Rocket. Nick and Tom's conversation originally aired on Ask A Painter LIVE and they covered topics ranging from job management technology and future economic challenges, to sales process, customer service, and more. These two big brains sift through some of the hottest subjects being discussed in contractor circles, and they offer their perspective on how trade contractors can continue to improve efficiency and increase profitability in any economic environment. You can find Ask A Painter on Facebook and Instagram every week!

Duration:00:55:40

Finding Bandwidth to Innovate and Elevate Your Industry with Tony Margani

11/22/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we chat with Tony Margani from Nubilis about the ability of trade contractors to innovate within their company while simultaneously elevating their trade with products and services that make the world a better place. Not everyone is able to create world-changing products while staying profitable in their business, but Tony suggests that passion for one's trade will lead to the discovery of adjacent passions and opportunities that allows one to expand into new interests that could have a more global impact. The product Tony's team created connects innovation to sustainability through controlling Tio2 by using 66% less Tio2 than traditional products. We chat about the progress Tony and his team has made in paint chemistry that pairs efficiency with eco-friendliness, and we discuss the bandwidth needed to balance innovation and elevation. See Tony's article in the December issue of In Paint magazine! Learn more about Nubilis here.

Duration:00:31:32

The Be-Look-Attract Marketing Strategy with Logan Shinholser

11/15/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors we are joined by Logan Shinholser of the Contractor Growth Network to talk about what trade businesses can do to build a more cohesive and compelling marketing plan. Many companies want to jump straight to the "attraction" phase of marketing strategy, but Logan discusses reasons why service quality and powerful branding form the foundation for any successful marketing strategy. Getting the Be-Look-Attract sequence out-of-order can have disastrous consequences for your company and can waste a LOT of time and money. Learn how to give the right attention to the right phase of marketing and you'll super-charge your strategy! Learn more about the Contractor Growth Network here!

Duration:00:38:57

The ONE DOOR to Customer Service with David Lord

11/8/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors, David Lord from Nexa joins us to talk about how phone calls can be the most important step--and the first!--to a positive customer experience. We talk about why some businesses don't value call services, how affordable call companies have become, and how call services can help a company improve customer reviews. Every company learning to capture leads and create raving fans from the first interaction needs to listen and take notes! Learn more about Nexa call services at www.nexa.com

Duration:00:35:31

Project Performance Reviews with Nick Slavik

11/1/2023
On this episode of Rocket Your Business, Nick Slavik from Ask A Painter joins us to talk about the types of project and performance reviews that reveal trends and improvement opportunities. Every project review is inevitably impacted by employee performance, and Nick talks about how his company, Nick Slavik Painting and Restoration, schedules project performance AND personell performance reviews. We also talk about the 'above-the-line' and 'below-the-line' method of identifying work attitudes that impact performance and team culture. Check out Nick's Ask A Painter show!

Duration:00:27:26

Complex but not Complicated with Splash

10/25/2023
We are celebrating the launch of our new podcast name and logo, Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors! New name, same great business growth education! On this episode of Rocket Your Business we are joined by Splash from Blue Collar Tribe to talk about how businesses can scale without alienating their employees, dipping in customer service, or losing profit margin. Complexity is a great thing, but when it gets complicated it's time for leadership to decide to slow down hyper-expansion or...the dreaded idea...scale down.

Duration:00:47:47

Phone Answering for Pros with Tom Droste

10/18/2023
On this episode of Estimate Rocket Radio--soon to be Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors!--Tom Droste, CEO/Founder of Estimate Rocket, joins us to talk about the importance of professional phone answering services. How your company answers the phone--or doesn't!--can reveal a lot about your sales process efficiency and growth potential. This seemingly small part of sales and customer service is the foundation for everything that happens after that first call. Learn how other companies are planning their call answering to remain efficient AND effective. Download the free What If planning tool here!

Duration:00:30:48

The Right Way to Grow with Nick May

10/11/2023
On this episode of Estimate Rocket Radio (soon to be rebranded as Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors!) we are joined by Nick May of Walls By Design to talk about industry influence on every trade contractor to scale their business at all costs. But is this the right way to grow your company? Nick discusses ways business owners can target new growth without sacrificing the integrity of positive team culture, healthy profit margins, or ....time! Don't grow your business into a time and money prison. Keep your customers happy and grow sustainably without sacrificing quality by focus on the right criteria. Use this checklist to assess your level of project success and customer satisfaction! Did you start the project on time? Was the project completed without the owner being on-site painting? Was the project completed without any problems? Did the project end when you expected it in the hours that you expected it? Did you receive a sign off on the project before your team left? Did your customer hear about you from a referral? Did you get paid at the end of the project the same day you finished? Did you get a five-star review on Google? Did you do job costing? Did you achieve 50% gross profit or better?

Duration:00:56:18

5 Years is the New 10 with Jason Paris

10/4/2023
On this episode of Estimate Rocket Radio, Jason Paris of Paris Painting and Aleph Holdings joins us to talk about business growth and leveraging leadership skills to realize new expansion. Trade businesses can experience accelerated change in the current economy, and long-range goals that used to take 10 years to actualize can now often be reached in 5 years! We discuss why some business leaders bump their heads on skill ceilings where further growth requires new specialists with new skills. Being a generalist is great for starting a company, but it can be an impediment if specialists aren't brought it to advance the systems. You can't do everything on your own, but you can build the right team who can do everything you need to reach your goals!

Duration:00:35:38

Getting Into Commercial with Scott Lollar

9/20/2023
On this episode of Estimate Rocket Radio, Scott Lollar of Consulting 4 Contractors talks with us about how businesses can start taking on more commercial work to get bigger projects and to even out the peaks and valleys of cash flow. Thinking about getting into commercial but you're not sure of the steps you need to take to get your feet wet? Scott is a guide to the world of commercial for contractors in any growth stage. Check out this free self-assessment that will help you gauge your company's readiness to break into commercial work! Learn more about Consulting 4 Contractors.

Duration:00:31:27

Pros and Cons of Sign-on-the-Spot with Tom Droste

9/6/2023
On this episode of Estimate Rocket Radio (soon to be Rocket Your Business for Trade Contractors!), we are joined by the CEO and Founder of Estimate Rocket, Tom Droste who shares ways a sign-on-the-spot option can help sales people close more sales. This may not be an option for every business, but if your company has the tools and opportunity for sign-on-the-spot offering, you'll want to explore it's application in your sales process. Tom discusses tools that power this option, as well as sales techniques that go hand-in-hand with the ability to close deals fast.

Duration:00:30:09