9. Why Your Contractor Business Isn’t Standing Out (And the Systems That Will Fix It)

If you ever felt like you're doing everything right, but for whatever reason, you are

still blending in with every other contractor, this might be the real problem.

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Your standards aren't high enough.

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In this episode, I'm breaking down how raising your standards completely change your

business and the simple things that most contractors are missing.

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Hey, I'm Che Toya.

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I've spent more than 10 years in construction.

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working behind the scenes in marketing, hiring, and I've seen how overwhelming it can be

to grow a business.

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That's how we've learned to build a sustainable business using clear systems, strong

communication, and intentional recruiting.

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If you're ready for better hiring, smarter remarketing, and a business that doesn't fall

apart when you step away, welcome to building better contractor businesses.

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If you are a contractor trying to build a more profitable, predictable business,

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be sure to join us in our Facebook group, which is called Building Better Contractor

Businesses.

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You will find the link in our show notes.

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This is where we are having real conversations each and every week.

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So there's been something I've been talking about a lot lately.

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It is the importance of having high standards.

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I've been talking about this each and every week from our leadership calls, from the calls

that we have with all of our staff, because the truth is, this is one of the biggest

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things that will help you stand out.

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And for whatever reason, the construction industry, the standards are super low, like

really low, which means the truth is,

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You can dominate your market just by doing a few simple things consistently.

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So for a very long time, Kevin and I didn't even realize this.

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We were out just trying to figure things out, just trying to get through jobs, trying to

keep things moving along.

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And honestly, a lot of the time we were just learning as we went.

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But we really started to grow.

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and started to pay attention to what was actually going on, what actually made a huge

difference.

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Then we realized something.

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The companies that stand out aren't always the most skilled.

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They just operate at a higher standard.

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Recently, I was listening to a podcast about Disney.

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And of course, we are not Disney.

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We're not the happiest place on earth.

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but their philosophies on standards, that's what makes their business super, super strong.

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Here are some real examples of what high standards look like within your contractor

business.

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Number one, answering your phone.

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To me, this is a very crazy standard to be considered a high standard, but what I've found

out throughout the years

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that a lot of contractors aren't selling, or a lot of contractors, for whatever reason,

they are not answering their phone.

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One of the things that we do offer within our business is a VoIP system.

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And with the VoIP system, it allows you to answer your phone wherever you are.

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It allows you to, if you are driving, if you're on vacation, and for whatever reason,

maybe you do not have an admin and you're just your only person, you're out working.

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It allows you to answer your phone while you are out.

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It also allows you to look bigger than what you really are.

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So VoIP systems, I do recommend.

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That way you do not have to be at your desk, but you could still answer your phone no

matter wherever you are.

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So I believe that having a VoIP system is very, very important for having some type of

system that allows you to answer your phone wherever you are.

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You know, maybe you just want to use your cell phone, but what's nice about having a VoIP

system is that you do not have to give your phone number, your personal phone number to

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other, you know, people, customers, clients, employees.

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And then also it's very nice about having a VoIP system is that when a phone call comes

in, it tells you exactly that it is your phone, your client or whoever's calling for your

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actual business.

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That way you can, you know,

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make sure you're answering it professionally, uh however way that you answer the phone,

but having some type of system of being able to answer the phone.

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If you don't want a VoIP system, maybe having a second phone, but with having a VoIP

system, it allows you to forward the calls over to your cell phone.

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So when the calls come in, you know they are actual business phone calls.

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So I do.

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think there's any reason of not being able to answer your phone.

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I get it, sometimes you are in a meeting, and if someone does call you and you realize

that they called you, just make sure you give them a call right back.

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Even if it's just you and you're in a meeting and you're not able to answer the phone,

having the ability to call them right back is a huge factor as well.

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So there should be no excuses of not answering your phone.

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Number two.

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This is a huge huge thing communication our standards are that we will respond within 24

hours always Even if we do not answer Or even if we do don't have the answer, you know,

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let them know hey I've pretty much confirming that I received this email or received this

phone call But I'll get back to you by tomorrow or when as soon as you get an answer But

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it also be able to give a realistic

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timeline of when you should have an answer.

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Don't leave anyone in La La Land.

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So everyone should have the ability to know what's going on.

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And if you don't know the answer, be sure to get the answer from someone else.

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So, you know, don't leave, as I said, don't leave people in La La Land, don't leave people

hanging.

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Number three is job site presentation.

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So, you know, this is cleaning after the job site.

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You know, right now we have our bathroom that's being remodeled.

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And one of the things that I am liking about the contractors who are currently remodeling

our bathroom is that they're cleaning up after themselves.

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As you guys know, dust gets to be everywhere.

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So then just, you know, cleaning up after themselves before they leave, it makes me very

happy as a customer.

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So just making sure that you're cleaning up after yourselves.

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If you make a mess, clean it up.

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You know they're sweeping they're doing all the things and that way even though they're in

our home five days out of the week eight hours a day.

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It's not as bad because you're cleaning up after themselves and it's not feeling like when

they're not there that I'm having to clean up after that so just important of cleaning up

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after yourselves also making sure that you're organized your material looks nice so you're

not just drawing like our contractors are currently working at the house.

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They're very good at making sure that everything feels organized, that nothing is just out

and about and you know, the boxes look nice.

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They're not leaving anything in the bathroom or anywhere else that we have to pick up.

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So I do think that's very, very important.

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Your crew looks great.

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You know, every member should have a shirt that represents your business.

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I know in the past we didn't really start offering team member shirts until, you know,

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three months and we realized that was a mistake on our part, after they've been with the

company after their probation, but that was a mistake on our part because that's part of

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branding.

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And then everyone showing up with their shirts, makes the client customer feel okay,

they're here to work.

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So just making sure that they show up nice, making sure that they look professional.

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That makes people feel a lot better at ease when they see you come into the job site.

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Clean vehicles.

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When your technicians or yourself gets out of the car,

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There shouldn't be trash falling from the vehicle.

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So to me, this is very, very important as well.

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So people, they judge your business before you even speak.

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So if you show up with your hair brushed, if you show up not with the best hygiene, you

show up and you still got crust on your face, customers are seeing that.

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So just the importance of showing up to the park.

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Number four, another thing that I learned from the Disney philosophy is the difference of

an onstage versus offstage behavior.

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So this one is very, very huge.

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Onstage, pretty much in front of the customer or the GC or whoever you're currently

working with, you have a certain way of yourself in front of the client.

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You're not complaining, your team's not complaining, there's no confusion.

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There's no chaos, only solutions.

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So if there is a problem, the client does not see it.

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And if when you do bring up the problem, if these problems do happen, there's a solution

to that problem.

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So I think that's very, very important that when you come to the client or customer, that

you have some type of solution to their problem, not just, there's this problem and we

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don't have a way to fix it.

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So before you bring problems to your customer, you need to make sure that you're bringing

them a solution as well.

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Then if you don't know the solution, then just let them know like, like we're trying to

figure this out, but we'll let you know as soon as possible.

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mean, as you know, as I've, when I used to be in sales, I used to do door-toor sales and I

was always told like customers, they don't mind the negatives, but they hate surprises.

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So for that reason, just, know, communicate well with your client and let them know what's

going on, but make sure you're providing a solution instead of just providing them a

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problem where they're having to figure it out.

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And so if something does go wrong,

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You come with solutions and a plan.

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Customers, as I said, do hate problems.

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They just hate surprises.

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And so number five is the show must go on.

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Things will go wrong, unfortunately.

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But your standards is you do not disappear.

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You communicate.

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You let your client know what's going on and you fix it.

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You provide a solution.

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Your reputation is built when things go bad.

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Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world where everything is just going to be

wonderful all the time.

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And so for that reason, we need to make sure that we communicate with them and let them

know like, hey, this is going on or show, you know, we show up, we're confident, we show

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up, we're not chaotic.

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And that's going to help with your reputation.

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Number six is client experience first.

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So one of the things that we've been super, super focused on is same day communication.

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You know, making sure we are setting clear expectations.

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letting them know like, this is what our expectations are.

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We don't want any type of surprises within pricing, the scope, the timeline.

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So these are all expectations that we should have.

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And how you make people feel really matters.

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People remember the way that you made them feel.

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So for that reason, if you're always coming in and you're doing change orders because you

didn't bill correctly,

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That's what the client's going to remember.

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just remembering that the way you make people feel is very, very important.

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Number seven is paying attention to detail.

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Clients, we are in low voltage and clients may not understand exactly what is it that we

do.

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But what they do notice is the terminations, the wiring, the cabling, that looks clean.

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The cables are labeled.

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They notice that.

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the cabling and everything looks organized.

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doesn't look like a, like I've seen the before and after photos of other wires and it just

looks like a hot mess.

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So for that reason, like looking organized and feeling organized and looking clean is just

going to give the client a better experience and that shows that you're actually paying

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attention to the details.

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They can feel the difference a lot.

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Number eight is consistency over herox.

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So just the importance of being consistent.

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So you don't have to rely on a rock star employees.

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We build systems, you build checklists, SOPs, standard processes.

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Every client gets the same experience.

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Years, years ago, I read the book, E-Myth, and E-Myth just talks about the importance of

starting from the bottom and going up with your systems.

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And everyone client and they talked about one of the, so E-Mets is about this employer

owns a pie company.

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But one of the examples that they shared was when they would go to this hotel, like they

remembered certain things, like what kind of magazines he liked.

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And those were the things that they would give each and every time, because they had a

great system in place for note taking and all that good stuff.

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Number eight is to create moments with the wow factor.

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So go slightly above experience, you know, within our organization, extra labeling,

cleaner than expected, easy to work with.

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We don't wanna bring any type of stress to our, you know, our partners or JCs that we work

with, our business owners that we work with.

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You know, we want it to be that we're easy to work with.

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And when they hire us, they don't have anything that they have to worry about.

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They know the job's going to get done.

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That's where people remember.

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Number 10.

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is safety.

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So being in construction, being on a construction site, safety is number one.

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Everyone needs to be safe.

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Everyone needs to return home.

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So for that reason, you know, keeping a clean site, making sure your team is wearing

proper PPE, respecting other trades, safety should be an automatic thing to making sure

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that the team is following.

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And respecting other trades is very important as well.

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Knowing certain things when it comes to other traits can be a game changer.

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Number 11, hire for attitude.

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You could teach skill.

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You know, sometimes it might be a little hard, but you can teach skill.

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One thing that you cannot teach is an attitude.

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You can't teach someone to have ownership.

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You can't teach someone to have great communication skills.

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You can't teach someone to have respect.

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The thing we need to focus on is making sure that we are hiring for mindset first and

skills second, because those are things that we can't teach people.

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We can't teach someone to hang like, you know, they keep being late.

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You can say it and say it and say it and say it over and over again, but they have to take

that effort and actually make sure that they're on time and showing to the job site early.

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So those are things that you really can't teach.

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Can't teach someone to have a good attitude.

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You can tell them, but it doesn't mean that they're going to do it when you're not

watching.

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Number 12 is that everyone represents the brand.

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Every employee that you hire represents the brand.

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There is no, that's not my job.

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Everyone owns the outcome of that job.

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Everyone plays a huge role of that job.

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Every single person represents your company in a good or bad way.

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So if you take anything from this episode, and I hope you did, pick two to three of these

items that I shared with.

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for your standards this week and don't try, the biggest thing I think is very, very

important is that you don't try just to fix everything.

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Start with one, maybe even two or three items, just start.

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Because this alone can separate you from 90 % of your competition.

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You answering your phone will unfortunately, fortunate for you.

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separate you from 90 % of your competition.

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Unfortunately, our competition isn't answering their phone.

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So you answering your phone and making sure you set your standards up higher means you are

going to separate yourself from 90 % of the competition.

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And so if you are looking to take this a little bit further and be sure to join our

Facebook group, our Facebook group is going to allow you to ask further.

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questions as well as build connections with other contractors and our link is in our show

notes.

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As always, if you are serious about building a better contractor business, come join us in

the Facebook group and let's keep building a better contractor business.

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If you believe that this episode brought you real clarity, be sure to share it with

another contractor who also needs it.

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And if you want to keep this conversation going, be sure to join our community of

contractors inside Building Better Contractor Businesses Facebook group.

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This is a community where we talk through the real problems

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that you are having in your business.

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The link will be found in our show notes.

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And remember, we are not just completing projects.

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We are building better contractor businesses.

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I will see you next time.