Sticks and Bricks Podcast

In this last audio re-shares from this past year's International Builders Show Livestreams, I am honored to bring you the discussion I had with industry Titan, Scott Sedam, on how to beat the material shortage that builders everywhere are facing.  It was the first time I had a studio audience, too!  Enjoy!!

In this episode, Heidi Schroeder - Senior Consultant with Lasso CRM - furthers the discussion about talking to your clients.  Specifically, we talk about how builders often are good at speaking with their prospects until they sell them a house.  Then - all of that managed conversation just stops, and the Home Builders goes into "build mode."  Listen in and learn why you shouldn't.

In this episode, I share the audio from the live podcast episode I did with Jen Barkan (Do You Convert) where we discuss how an Online Sales Counselor (and/or process) is so important for home builders off all sizes.  Think you're too small?  Think again!

In this replay of one of the Livestream events done during the 2022 International Builders Show in Orlando, FL (from high atop the ECI Software Solutions booth).  Listen in and enjoy as Ken talks about the importance of improving margins by putting more detail into your purchasing - and - as a bonus, we talk about how Home Builders who take the time to help their Trades run their businesses see a great Return on Investment that they may not necessarily realize. Enjoy!

I'm back - finally!  After taking a year or so off to re-assess what I wanted this podcast to be, the time has come to get things started again.  I get a little more personal in this episode - sharing my personal journey in this industry so you get to know more about who I am, what I've been through, and why I'm making this podcast. I also give you a sense of what this season is all about.  In short, this season is tailored to focus on those home building businesses who are "getting it done" - BUT - feel like you're working too hard for the results your getting.  You just know that things can be better - but - you're not quite sure what it is. This season, I'm shaking things up a bit.  I'll have interviews, for sure.  But I want to have different formats, different lengths and different ways of exploring ways to make your home building business' processes better.  And it's not always going to be super polished (heck, my dog barked at one part of this episode). I hope you enjoy and stick around for a new season.  I just know it's going to be a lot of fun!

Hey, folks. This week we’re going to be talking about that necessary evil that all builders face – home warranties. And, let’s face it, warranty claims are no fun. If you don’t keep a close tab on them, they can quickly spiral out of control – and – often, builders use their own administrative staff to handle the warranty calls that come in. Although that may seem practical on your wallet, it can often cost you more than you think. You really want to think about warranty as something more than just a cost of doing business (and, quite honestly, a pain in your neck). As much as it might hurt to hear, you really should treat the warranty process with your homeowners in a professional manner that is fair – and even delights your customers. After all, as a home builder, you can live and die by word of mouth. Now, I have to admit that when I was building, I was one of those who just used my own staff to handle the majority of the warranty claims. A competitor started offering an extended third party warranty company to their customers, and my sales team thought we needed to offer one, too or we’d lose sales to that competitor. Begrudgingly, I sought out a third party warranty company so we had something to offer as part of the sales process. And, I can say that I wasn’t impressed. I’d pay a few hundred dollars to this third-party company for every customer to offer “peace of mind” to them. I never met anyone at this company. Most of my customers forgot that this was part of their sale – remarking so when signing the paperwork at closing. And, as far as I know, no one ever contacted that company anyway. So, I was a skeptic. It seemed like I was just throwing money out the window for no good reason. Recently, I happened to connect with Matt Hobbs, who is the National Director of Business Development for ProHome – a Third Party Warranty Company with locations in the U.S. and the U.K., and I invited him to talk me out of my skepticism. So, if – like me – you are skeptical about third-party Warranty Companies, listen in as Matt faces my skepticism and tries to convince me that there is merit to hiring a third-party warranty company to manage your warranty service….

As I bring my first season of the Sticks and Bricks Podcast, I am so excited to continue the conversation I started last week with Scott Sedam of True North Consulting - a well-known and often-published thought leader in the Home Building Industry. In this second part of our interview, we continue to discuss an article that he wrote in October of last year that reviewed 10 Lessons Learned from the last downturn – and – we see if and/or how those 10 Lessons relate to the current COVID-19 situation.

As I get ready to wrap up my first season of the Sticks and Bricks Podcast, I am so excited to offer a two-part interview series with a well-known thought leader in the Home Building Industry. For as long as I can remember, I always gravitated to the writing and wisdom of Scott Sedam in the articles he wrote in Professional Builder and other industry publications. Scott is the owner of True North Consulting – and – he’s been helping home builders improve operations for such a long time. I held on to an article that he wrote in October of last year that reviewed 10 Lessons Learned from the last downturn. In that same article, there was talk of an economic slowdown looming in the first quarter of 2020. The coronavirus showed up instead – and – the effects of it have been felt by many across the world. I thought it would be interesting to take the 10 Lessons listed in that article and see if and/or how they related to the current situation. Scott’s long tenure in this industry with some of the greatest home building legends leads to some interesting stories and advice in this interview.

This week, I’m offering up a recording from a Webinar-type program I hosted from my day job at ECI Solutions. In this time of working remotely, home builders everywhere are just trying to figure out how to do those things that were so simple before. So, we organized some talks – called MarkChats – with home builders all across North America to share concerns and ideas on how they’re dealing with very real things that happen every single day in their businesses. And I thought it would be good to share these recordings with my listeners, too. This week, I share the discussion on handling Warranty while working remotely. So, listen and learn how other builders are handling their warranty at this time. Then, share your ideas, too. We’re all trying to figure this out. By generously sharing, we will get through this together!

I just love reading books about business and marketing. And – every once in a while, I come across a book that I just love so much, I want others to know about it. One of my latest favorite books is The Content Fuel Framework by Melanie Deziel. Why I love this book is that it’s a really more of an active tool than it is something to read. Too often, business books are good on theory – but – they lack any practical use. This book is so practical that Melanie gives you an easy tool that you can use to quickly come up with 100 Content Ideas. And it’s a tool that you will be able to continually use moving forward. Fortunately, in today’s day and age, social media allows one to pretty easily connect with influencers, authors and others. So, I took the liberty of quickly connecting with Melanie – and – I was so excited when she agreed to join me for this podcast episode. What’s really interesting for this episode is that it’s the first one I did where I didn’t really have any formal questions figured out ahead of time. Typically, I have a good idea of what I’m going to ask – but – this episode just seemed like it would be different from the start. Instead of the normal Q&A that I do, we decided that we’d just go through part of her Content Fuel Framework (the 10 Content Types) and let her explain each type. Then, I’d see if I could come up with some content ideas specific to home building. It turns out, the conversation was really good. In the span of about 40 minutes, I had 10 good content ideas generated that you could use right now! To be honest, it was more than 10 – but – you’ll get the picture when you listen. Melanie is a super cool guest – and – you’ll be able to tell that I am a Super Fan of her new book. So, grab your notebook (paper or digital) – and – get ready to have content ideas you can use as early as 45 minutes from now!