USE OUR COACHING AND CONSULTING SERVICES TO GET YOUR COMPANY BACK ON TRACK
Making money in construction is not as easy as many would like to believe. If it were, more construction-related businesses would survive.
So, at some point in time, many contractors find themselves in debt, with little or no business coming in, employee problems and ready to quit. They see all kinds of problems and no way to fix them. They obviously need some help.
The fact that you know enough about your business to ask for help proves you are on top of it and that you care about your family and your business. In almost all cases, all your company may need is some fine-tuning. If things were working better, you could remove the chaos, start making money again and get your life back to normal.
Construction Programs & Results can help. To meet the differing needs of our clients, and to help you start making a good profit on every job, we offer two services:
OUR COACHING SERVICE WILL HELP YOU IMPROVE CASH FLOW AND GET PROFITABLE, ALL WITHIN 90 DAYS
Many of our clients want help with their business on an ongoing basis. They want to be able to talk with someone once a week and more often if need be.
For those clients, we offer our Coaching service. All Coaching is done individually via phone calls with Michael. He works with you each session to fine-tune your daily activities, solve any problems and make the maximum profit available for your business from each job.
Most of our coaching clients tell us they see an immediate (4 to 6 week) turn around in their cash flow and are returning their company to profitability within 3 months.
We review your profitability, markup or gross margin. We review your accounting system, contract language and jobs waiting to start. We discuss advertising, estimating, job scheduling, your overall business structure and the systems you have or need to get the jobs done.
If you don't want to go to this detail and have a specific area where you want to focus, that's where we spend our time. Clients have included general and specialty contractors, with annual sales volumes ranging from $100,000 to well over $65 million.
Our plan offers 9 hours of phone time with Michael. To start, we schedule regular calls each week, which normally take from 45 minutes to an hour. When things have smoothed out a bit, we switch to calls every other week, and those normally run 15 to 30 minutes each. When your business is profitable again, we switch to a call as needed basis. Your total coaching experience with us will normally run six to nine months and many companies extend their agreements longer.
WE OFFER IN-HOUSE CONSULTING THAT GETS RESULTS
Other clients want an intensive, in house review of their business. For those, we offer a minimum two-day session with the option of additional time as needed. We come directly to your place of business and spend at least two full days working on your business, figuring out what is right and what is wrong. We analyze how we can fix the problem(s), and what adjustments need to be made and where. At the end of the second day, you will know and have what you need to turn your business around. This two-day session is followed up with several phone calls over the next six months to be sure that things are working the way they are supposed to. We can almost always resolve any additional issues over the phone.
HERE IS HOW TO PICK A BUSINESS COACH THAT WILL GET YOU TOP RESULTS
Often we are asked, "What is the difference between your service and the other coaches out there? I need business management coaching, but everybody tells me they can help me turn my company around. Why should I go with you?"
Check the questions below. These are the acid test of a good business coach or consultant. Review Michael’s bio to see how he measures up, then read the experiences of his clients.
Practical Experience
1. How many years of actual experience does the coach or consultant have in business? How many in construction? You want a coach or consultant who knows both construction and business.
2. Could they, if needed, visit a job site and help you get your job built? Have they worked with the tools, do they understand the problems of construction? Do they know how to deal with employee problems on a job site?
3. Could they, if needed, go with you on a sales call, or take the lead and sell it for you? Have they done actual one-on-one selling so they know the experience of having a customer say "your price is too high", along with the other comments that anyone involved in homeowner sales has experienced?
Practical Knowledge
4. Can the coach or consultant tell you the three things that cause cash flow problems and how to fix them?
5. Can the coach or consultant help you get creditors off your back, deal with the nasty and threatening phone calls, the threats of liens or lawsuits stopped? Can they help you resolve tax issues with the state or federal IRS departments?
Dedication
6. Do they provide their services full time, or is it a hobby?
7. Do they do the coaching or consulting work themselves, or are you passed on to someone else in their company?
Availability
8. If you have a serious issue and need help right away, are they willing to speak with you or will you have to wait for your scheduled call?
Credentials
9. Can they supply references of other contractors they have helped? What do those references say about the coach or consultant?
10. What other credentials do they bring to the industry? Have they written books on construction related topics, are they in demand as a seminar moderator or speaker? Do they speak at construction-related national conventions? Are they respected by national suppliers in the construction industry?
Success Ratio
11. What percentage of actual coaching or consulting clients have they been able to turn around and make profitable?
Promises or Real Results?
12. Do they offer you a "system" with the same solutions that will rescue any business, or will they provide one-on-one personal help to meet your needs?
13. Do they woo you with promises of free books and papers on how to do things? Or, will you discover a new mind set so that you can think problems through on your own?
WORKING WITH THE BEST, YOU GET THE BEST SERVICE
Whether coaching or consulting, we work for you solving the problems you feel are most important. We might bring up issues that need additional attention, but overall we stay focused on the problems you see, and we get them fixed. Almost all of our clients have said that the changes we implement pay for our services within a short period of time, often the first couple of weeks. And when we are working with you, you are the top priority.
Michael does all coaching and consulting. We don’t pawn you off onto someone with a fancy degree and/or title that knows nothing about our industry. Michael has been there and done it. He can take your sales lead, write your contract, help you get your jobs built, and resolve issues with employees, the IRS, suppliers and others you do business with.
Michael can also help you change your marketing and advertising program around so that your biggest problem will be finding qualified people to get your jobs built.
Our coaching and consulting services are offered on a first come, first served basis. All of our services are provided via written agreement.
We have helped turn around almost all businesses that have come to us for help. Many that come to us for help are more than $300,000.00 in debt, one over $800,000. They are now profitable and are or soon will be out of debt.
A final thought. We get many calls for either coaching or consulting. Three or four new calls each week are very common. Sometimes when we do not hear back from the individuals, we call back to see how they are doing. Often, their phones have been disconnected.
If you think you need help, you probably do. Nowhere is the saying, "He who hesitates is lost" more true than in business. Don't wait until it's too late.
If you want some help, please give us a call at 1-888-944-0044, or send us a note. All calls and the work we do are in the strictest of confidence.
NOT QUITE READY?
Maybe you don't need or consider yourself ready for a coach or consultant. You just want to know more about how to make your construction-related business successful.
Michael's book, Markup & Profit; A Contractor's Guide is considered the industry bible. Its practical, timeless, common-sense approach to business will lead you to more profitable jobs. From the basics on how to price your jobs to cover your overhead and make a profit, to the intricacies of contracts and change-work orders, this book has helped thousands of residential and commercial contractors in all aspects of the construction industry succeed.
Starting as a "gopher" in his father's construction company in 1952, Michael moved up to wiring houses, installing heating systems, earned his Oregon and Washington plumbing supervisors license, and working in a variety of other building trades. Michael wired his first home in 1957, installed his first heating system in 1959 and received his plumbing license in 1967.
He was the National Association of Home Builders National Remodeler of the Month in February 1983. Michael does fee arbitration and expert witness work, and serves as a business coach and consultant for construction companies throughout the U.S and Canada.
In 2005, Michael was selected to a nine-member panel to develop the criteria for the new national test to be used by NASCLA (National Association of State Contractor Licensing Agencies) to license commercial contractors to work in all 50 states.
Education
Michael is a graduate of Eastern Oregon University, with emphasis on Construction Business Management and Computer Science.
Published Author and Software Developer
His experience and education is the basis of his expertise in business management and developing both computer-assisted estimating systems and contract writing software programs for the construction industry.
Michael wrote the book, Markup and Profit; A Contractor’s Guide, published by Craftsman Book Co. This best selling business management book is focused on the subject of overhead and profit margins for the residential and light commercial construction industry. The book is considered an industry standard and is used by construction associations and educational providers in many states to teach the fundamentals of overhead and profit margins, and business management to general and specialty contractors of all types. This book has sold over 24,000 copies.
Michael’s latest book, Profitable Sales: A Contractors Guide was released in May, 2007 and has received very good reviews. Michael has written articles for and/or has been featured in over twenty different national magazines and trade publications.
International Communicator
Michael is a frequent speaker at international, national, regional and state conventions on construction business management, estimating, sales and the use of computers in remodeling and new construction. He has also consulted for several major national corporations.
Since 1980, he has conducted over 325 one and two-day seminars for over 24,000 contractors and governmental agencies in over 198 major US and Canadian cities.
Construction Programs & Results products are sold throughout the US, Canada and eight other countries around the world.
