0222: Uniquely Highly Profitable Contractors Target High Profit Enjoyable Clients

This Podcast Is Episode Number 0222 And It Will Be About Uniquely Highly Profitable Contractors Target High-Profit Enjoyable Clients Every Construction Contractor Has Clients Who Want To Help

Part of the reason is that they want to be sure the project is moving and things are being done. Other times the goal is to hopefully save money.  

In many cases, the most helpful thing a client can do on a project is keeping the area clean, pets under control and children out of the way. Anything other than that and you, the contractor could be at risk of losing everything you own or ever will if your client or customer is injured while working on your construction project even though it was their home or business.

There is a reason why most automotive repair shops have a sign like the one shown below and as a construction contractor, you would be wise to have signs professionally made and use them on every construction site.

Each type of construction has its own challenges but the overarching answer is to always give your clients what they want, not what you want.

Wake Up To An Overflowing River Of cash flow and profits beyond anything you have seen in the past or continue sleeping on the hard mattress of regret under the cold blanket of lost opportunity by refusing to change old tired worn-out wealth limiting habits that are keeping you from your best.

Right Or Rich Everybody picks one or the other to a degree because nobody can do both for very long. Pick one on purpose or the other by default. The more important it is to be right the less you will be rich and the reverse is true.

I Have Asked Thousands of homeowners, commercial property owners, landlords, commercial space tenants and even a few car buyers, computer buyers, ship buyers and consumers about their overall buying experiences and one common thread appears over and over; they got what they wanted and were happy repeat customers and clients who refer their friends and family or they didn’t get what they wanted and made the contractors life hell.

My Sales Script Book Has hundreds of questions that are continually honed, polished, updated and replaced from which I pick and choose the ones to use depending on the situation.

Develop Your Own Script Book And Record the questions and answers that you find encourage people to open up and get to the fourth level of truth because when you do the service you will render will be far in excess of the money you earn.

The Two Most Powerful Questions:

What are your most important criteria in making a purchase decision?

What is the one thing you remembered about your purchase?

Question #1 Most Common Answer "Price" because for most people it is a conditioned response they learned early in life. It is similar to ringing a bell; it gets people's attention; Stimulus & Response. If you ever get mugged, and I hope you never do; yell "FIRE" because everybody wants to see a fire but very few people will respond to a cry for "HELP".

Question #2 Most Common Answer "I could or could not get what I wanted!" There is a lot of money making power in this answer and it does not come fast or easy. In fact, in most cases, it takes a while to get to it...because:

Truth Is Four Levels Deep: What people want to hear What people want to believe Everything else out in the world The Truth of what they really believe

If Your Construction Company has annual sales volume of less than $1,000,000 and you want to double, triple and quadruple your cash flow and net profit pay attention to these tips:

Listen With Empathy And Understanding because this one of the most valuable gifts one person can give to another person is to listen and let someone speak until they are finished. Poor communicators make deep noises from the chest sound like important messages from the brain have a captive audience and it is 180 degrees opposite of truly listening.

Ask Good Questions When your construction customer or client makes a point about something that could be important wait until an appropriate break in the conversation and ask for clarification. For example, the new deck needs to be really strong...could be an important point...perhaps they entertain a lot of sumo wrestlers or professional football stars...show you care by asking. The preceding examples could save you a lot of money by not under-building something and in fact, could make you a lot of money with add-on sales.

Be A Keen Observer Detectives make a lot of money and the best ones have a keen eye for observation. Much can be said about this and I recommend you read the book "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko.

In All Of Our Construction Companies We Had Several Repeat And Referring Clients One particular client lived in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. A sweet little old lady on a "Fixed Income" that we did a substantial amount of work on her house.

Every Time, Like Clockwork when one of our Construction Service Professionals would quote a price for a new project she would almost break down in tears. Her voice would crack and her face would take on the saddest look you have ever seen while she talked about how she may have to do without something special in order to have the work done. The funny thing is whenever I would see her at a social event I would ask how she was able to survive on a "Fixed Income” of more than $8,000,000 a year. Her response as always, "It is not easy but thank goodness the house and car are paid for and I have no other debts”.

We Did A Lot Of work For her and her friends and neighbors in the area and they were all raving fans! Why? Because of Listening, Questioning and Observing and always, always, always giving a little more in value than we took in dollars. The key is always give a fair price that ensures your company will earn a handsome profit and hire professionals to do excellent work.

If You Own A Small Construction Company, brand new or been in business a while, we have a special consulting offer that you may be interested in...Click Here To Learn More

New Construction is clean work. As suggested in the name “New” The Construction is all New. Everything from underground to the roof is all new bundles, pallets, cases of material from rough in to trim. It is clean tidy and fresh.

Remodels are an entirely different story. It is taking the Old and tearing it out and making a new start. The challenge is marrying the two together and making it all work.

Another difference is the people involved in most new construction projects it has more of a Contractor to Contractor feel. The actual owner of the project will have limited contact with the individual contractors on the project.

New Construction Custom Homes and Remodels is all about the homeowner and what does the Homeowner want?

Do they know what they want; or is it an idea that the General Contractor has to translate into Construction-Eze for the other contractors on the job.

Residential Remodels may have the homeowner living in the home while the project is going on. If so this may include children and pets.

Service and Repair Contractors definitely have a higher chance of dealing with children and pets.

Everyone thinks children and pets are adorable except when they are running around getting into the tools or in the case of pets trying to escape outside every time the door is opened. It is hard to ask the client to put their pet in another room or a carrier; and suggest the children be in another part of the house or off playing at a friend’s house.

Clients understand the challenges and will automatically look for solutions.

Customers typically do not care unless they are paying “By The Hour” for services. The more skilled you are in your trade the easier it looks to outsiders. Because it looks so easy the customer wants to help or have you teach them what to do. So How to you nicely explain – Their help is not helping? One of the ways is to give them “Busy Work” – something that benefits them.

Years ago we were in Construction (which explains how and why we understand your world) Every job has a certain amount of cleanup and debris that needs to go away at the end of the job. Randal’s favorite was to suggest that since the truck was going to the dump anyway. “Did they have anything they wanted to get rid of?” Customers loved this because maybe they did not own a truck, or needed a second set of hands to load something bigger. 

Most importantly – they would spend quality time looking around the house and yard for assorted things to get rid of. This would keep them busy. And while they were busy; our employees could be busy working because at the end of the day the progress needed to be done despite any interruptions, What About Questions, kids and pets running around. 

Other customers will ask “If I help” – will the project go faster and be cheaper. It most cases the answer is No – if the Contractor wanted a trainee they would hire one. Many contractors have additional help during the Summer, Winter Vacation, and Spring Break. (It is called teenager or young adults of the owner, family or friends who want a little spending money before going back to school)

A more permanent solution is a “Trainee or Apprentice” who is starting out as a Gofer, Labor and working their way up to learning a trade or skill.  

Most Contractors Like You Are Willing To Teach And Share Your Knowledge It is a very patient contractor who can deal with both “The Homeowner” who is trying to help and keep the project on track.

There are exceptions to every rule. I can think of a New Construction Mixed Use Project where the owner was active on the project. He was the guy pulling nails, doing pickup work, picking up trash and other laborer type tasks as directed by the project manager. If you came on the site; you would not have known or guessed he was the owner.   

Very few Contractors are skilled to be able to Flip back and Forth between New Construction, Remodel, Service, and Repair. Just because you can Flip back and forth does not mean your employees have the same skillset. Part of the reason you are able to do it is – You Are The Owner!

You Are Motivated To Take The Call, Do The Estimate, Close The Sale, Get The Work Done, Invoice The Customer, Get Paid, Put Money In The Bank, and Pay Your Bills. We have taken the same principals learned in Construction and translated them to our Accounting Practice. We want for you to do the parts that only you can do. Believe me, that is a lot.

Take The Call Do The Estimate Close The Sale Get The Work Done Invoice The Customer Get Paid From The Customer Put Money In The Bank Pay Your Bills. Our Part Is Setting Up Your Contractor Bookkeeping Service System And Doing The Data Entry.

We are a production shop with a Contractors Bookkeeping System That Works know what to do, how to do it and do it quickly and efficiently.  We have processes, procedures and know what software works well with each other. We try to “KISS” Keep It Simple Silly. Why because Construction Accounting is harder than regular bookkeeping. 

Never Let Anyone Outside The Owners Of Your Construction Contracting Company Access Your Money!

There are lots of stories about “Bad Bookkeepers” who is given too much authority and too much access to the Contractor’s money have embezzled a lot of money and have never been held accountable. Know the signs of the Bad Bookkeeper:

Bad Bookkeeper Tell Tale Signs

 

They train the contractor like an organ grinder trains a monkey, click here to learn more They refuse to invest time and money in continuing education because they know everything They are passive aggressive and will study you and your staff to learn how to manipulate everyone They are masters at gaining power over you, your staff, and new employees and outside suppliers They hate change and will fight tooth and nail to stop it or they will destroy your company They know you're responsible for taxes, fines, penalties, and interest; so this is where they get even They know how to increase your quarterly tax return costs, click here to learn more They understand that bookkeeping is 90% repetitive transactions and 10% complex transactions They don't know what to do with complex transactions, so they put them wherever they feel like They have side jobs working for other companies or an entire bookkeeping business on the side They decide how much integrity if any, your company has and they tell everyone who will listen They create a miserable work environment causing turnover in your staff which costs you money They make your customers and clients feel unwelcome and unappreciated which costs you money They act as if they are serving time in jail and do the minimum required to keep their job They say things to suggest businesses are bad and construction company owners are the worst They are jealous of your success and even more so if they ever had a failed construction business They don't learn anything new, why should they, nobody is reviewing the QuickBooks They never learn anything new unless the company pays for the training and it is on the clock They quit when the tax return is being prepared because QuickBooks is a mess and they're caught They come in a little bit late every morning and leave a little bit early to make up for it They bait you with drama, nasty comments and minor actions to find your tolerance limit They get even with you for every perceived injustice against themselves and society as a whole They keep you busy with lots of mindless crap to divert attention from why the books are a mess They let you think you are in control of the bookkeeping and the bookkeeper until it is too late They make you think they are looking out the best interest of the company, LOL! They let the work expand to fill whatever time you are willing to pay them to get it done When they quit or get fired expect to hear: “Chaos, panic and disorder...my work here is done” They become indispensable in order to take time off whenever they please and hold you, hostage They negotiate for additional perks, benefits, changes, and elimination of personal accountability They network for a better job with your clients, suppliers, vendors and your competitors They represent themselves to outsiders as the owner or manager with decision-making authority They text, message, e-mail, surf the web, chat on the phone and socialize on company time They train you to leave them alone by getting upset or angry whenever you want anything They work hard at causing just enough chaos so owner does not earn more than the bookkeeper When your business fails they tell everyone you were incompetent and they saw it coming They live in a chaotic, neurotic, psychotic, selfish, disorganized, blame game environment  They work through lunch to leave earlier in the day (At the office for 7 hours and get paid for 8)

Question - What happens when the person in control of QuickBooks is unhappy with you?

Answer - The same thing that happens when the person who cooks your food is unhappy with you!

In The End - Bad Bookkeepers leave contractors like you with unfiled and unpaid taxes, gasping, upset, with tear stained checks, wide-eyed, stupid, mouth open, standing in the middle of the highway of business success staring at the remains of your business, crashed, rolled over, upside down, in the ditch, on fire, with flames belching from all sides with no hope in sight.

And then things get real ugly as you recall reading The General Contractor And The River Of Construction Commerce and realize all of this could have been avoided!

I have seen bad bookkeepers ruin too many businesses, especially construction businesses. In most cases, it was Bookkeeper Incompetence or Bookkeeper Embezzlement and in other cases, it appears to me there may have been some deliberate identity theft; however, I cannot be certain.

All I know for sure is that I have witnessed business failures that have led to divorce, families destroyed, finances wiped out and people living on the streets. In a few extreme cases, I know of contractors that have taken their own lives and it needs to stop!

Because We Have Owned Construction Companies We Understand “What You Are Doing” And How To Help You.  When you explain you do we know what you are saying.

When you ask if you should collect a Job Deposit – our response is always Yes you should be. 

When you say you are having issues – We Get It And In Most Cases, We Can Suggest A Workable Solution. 

One of the many challenges contractors have is the balance of information. 

What To Know

When To Know It

Why Do You Need To Know IT

A couple of tips about Construction Accounting

If it is too complicated, it won’t ever get done and if it does you are too exhausted to learn what the answers to the questions that started the whole process.

A little information is as bad as wanting too much. Tax Accountants only focuses on what the IRS wants and needs to know. Your tax accountant rolls the numbers up to do the annual taxes. If any individual job is profitable is not one the thing that is needed to know by anyone but you.

As a contractor how useful is it to know How many 2x4’s were used on an individual remodel?

Will that information tell you anything that is helpful for the next remodel? 

In QuickBooks Desktop Job Profitability Reports are easy to accomplish.

Estimates vs. Actual Reports In QuickBooks Desktop Version take a lot more effort on the part of the contractor (Unreasonable to expect office staff | spouse to look at a lumber slip and know what phase of the project to code it to) Everything needs to be coded, every single piece of paper and most contractors get too busy to do this and the pile grows higher and higher. (I can see it from here)

Messy paperwork is the biggest and most common challenge for any contractor.

Paperwork is so easy to get out of hand. Because of this, our clients love every time we find a new solution that is helpful to them. One less thing they have to touch, handle or over handle is a good thing. 

We help a Little or Lot depending on your needs. 

For Do-It-Yourself Bookkeeping solutions go to https://www.fasteasyaccountingstore.com/

Call me if you need assistance in choosing the right product for your needs at 206-361-3950.

I am also available to chat about other issues with your Free One Hour Consultation. 

Looking forward to being of assistance

Sharie

When You Become A Client - Then we can tap into our resources of knowledge and strategy banks. We use the reports hidden in your QuickBooks in order to diagnose and understand your construction business and develop plans and help you implement a path to success for you and you alone because every contractor has unique Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T. Analysis) that when understood can lead to a Strategic Roadmap which cannot help but make a lot of money.

We Remove Contractor's Unique Paperwork Frustrations  

For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of a QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online, and we have a custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.

This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that, and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation. 

 

Profitable Contractors and Construction Company owners have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services and contractor coaching services like ours for a long time, and now you know about it too!

Thank You For Reading This Far, And I Hope You Understand we really do care about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever hire our services.

We Scan Your Receipts, And Invoices link the appropriate transactions to QuickBooks or Xero Accounting Online depending on the construction accounting service you are using and provide ongoing Cloud Based Contractors Bookkeeping Services by accountants who understand construction.

Our Contractor Bookkeeping Services System Is A System   Thinking About Outsourcing Your Contractors Bookkeeping Services To Save Time And Money? Click On The Button Below To Download A Free Guide 

 

Business Process Management (BPM) For Contractors Need Help Now? Call Sharie 206-361-3950 sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

 

Xero Outsourced Construction Accounting Services QuickBooks Outsourced Construction Bookkeeping Services We Are Xero Accounting Experts Specializing In Construction Bookkeeping Services  

About The Author:

Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/sharie-dehart/ 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com

Most Contractors Setup QuickBooks Desktop Version In One Of Three Ways:

#1 EZ Step Interview inside QuickBooks Setup
#2 Asked Their Tax Accountant To Setup QuickBooks
#3 They Attended A How To Setup QuickBooks Class Or Seminar

And QuickBooks Does Not Work The Way They Want It Too! The Answer: #1 Click Here To Buy An Entire QuickBooks Setup For Your Specific Contracting Company #2 Click Here To Buy Just The Chart Of Accounts For Your Specific Contracting Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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