ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Every contractor is busy. Far fewer are booked.
Busy is running job to job all week putting out fires. Booked is knowing what your next six months look like — and being able to say no, raise your price, and sleep at night. In this episode of Contractor Cuts, Clark and James break down the difference, and how the rut starts before you ever notice it.
They cover:
- Ranking and pacing your leads instead of chasing everything in front of you
- The conversion-rate math that tells you exactly how much to bid each month
- Filling a slow month from a bench you built — not by dropping your price
- Why "I'll get to it next week" is how you go dark on a client without meaning to
- Telling your subs what's coming three weeks out, and why it buys you loyalty and urgency
- Creating an intentional office week instead of panicking through a slow one
- Measuring a good year by booked vs billed, not by how hard it felt
- The one change to start with if you only do one thing
If you had your busiest year ever and somehow made less money, this is the episode that explains why.
🚧 2027 Growth Conference — Austin, TX | Jan 10–12. Two days diving deep into your company — what's working, what's broken — ending with your 2027 blueprint. Day 3: hands-on electives like financial management and estimate writing to make it real. Early Bird (very limited): 30% off + 3 hotel nights covered. Sign up at contractorcuts.com
Contractor Cuts is a weekly podcast for contractors who want to build a better business — covering sales, operations, hiring, finances, and everything in between.
🔗 Book a free call: contractorcuts.com
🔗 ProStruct360 software + coaching: prostruct360.com
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:12.560
Welcome to Contractor Cuts, where we cover the good, the bad, and the ugly of growing a successful contracting company.
00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:18.640
Welcome to Contractor Cuts.
00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:20.000
My name is Clark Turner.
00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:21.359
And I'm James McConnell.
00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:26.879
Thanks for joining the two of us again for another week of talking contractors.
00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:27.439
Yeah.
00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:28.000
Yeah.
00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.319
Blue-collar boys.
00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:33.120
Slinging up the belts, getting ready.
00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.480
Got 16 penny nails on my left pocket.
00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.039
I got eight penny nails in my right.
00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:40.240
I'm ready for anything.
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.159
Framing, trim, let's do it up.
00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:43.359
Rink shanks.
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.680
Those things don't come out of wood very easily.
00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.280
I hope I got a bag of screws because I might want to hold something a little bit tighter.
00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:52.079
But you know what?
00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:55.599
They don't have as good shear strength as a nail.
00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:59.359
So today we're talking about busy versus booked.
00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.240
James, I love you so much.
00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:03.039
Thank you.
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:09.920
Today we're talking the difference of contractors that are really busy and contractors that are booked up.
00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:12.319
I don't know any contractors that aren't busy.
00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:14.480
But I know plenty of them that aren't booked.
00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:15.199
That's true.
00:02:15.519 --> 00:02:16.879
Book it TM T-shirt.
00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.439
That's but we'll we'll have it at the retreat.
00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:30.240
Um when one-man shows come into coaching a lot of the time, and oftentimes partnerships and when you have a couple people with you, this also happens.
00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:45.280
But being very busy for this week, where when I've got a lot going on, I'm putting out fires, I'm running the job sites, and I'm not looking ahead for the next few weeks, the next few months as to what's coming.
00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:50.079
And so I you could see this pattern of I'm slammed with jobs.
00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.360
I landed four at the same time and I'm running site-to-site.
00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.439
How many estimates, like how many estimates have you done in the past couple of weeks?
00:02:57.600 --> 00:03:01.120
Oh man, I've gone to like seven, but I haven't written any of them up yet.
00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:01.680
Okay.
00:03:01.920 --> 00:03:04.240
Well, how long have those been sitting?
00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:06.319
Because those clients are expecting something soon.
00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:06.960
Have you talked to them?
00:03:07.519 --> 00:03:10.079
No, no, I just I'll I'll get to them probably this weekend.
00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:11.040
Oh, you're not getting that.
00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:12.399
Yeah, you're not gonna land those.
00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:24.720
And so the the pattern is you're so busy you don't write estimates or think about what's coming next or plan for that, or you're overcommitting to four or five prop more projects than you can handle at once for next month, but you're just saying yes to everybody.
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:25.040
Yeah.
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:28.639
Stack them, stack them, let's get all the work to make next month even worse.
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.959
But then you get to next month and we're not able to build estimates for the following month.
00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:33.199
Right.
00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:39.839
And so there's this pattern of when I'm busy, I don't have time to look at the future and what's coming until I get too slow.
00:03:39.920 --> 00:03:41.120
And at that time, it's too late.
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:43.040
Like, oh, okay, I'm wrapping these jobs up.
00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.160
Let's come up for air.
00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:48.240
Let me call that lady from a month ago, see if she wants me to actually write that estimate up.
00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:49.920
I I'm already working with somebody.
00:03:51.040 --> 00:03:51.280
Why?
00:03:51.519 --> 00:03:53.519
I thought you didn't even call me.
00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.000
Uh so how do we get out of that rhythm?
00:04:00.079 --> 00:04:15.199
Of I'm so slammed with work, I don't have time to write estimates or go to visit uh potential jobs or send all of the chasing down leads and follow-ups from estimates and all like all of that stuff that needs to happen.
00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:20.959
That when you don't have any jobs going on, you are perfect at that because I am starving and I'm gonna hunt something down.
00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.720
I'm gonna email them every single day.
00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:23.680
Hey, how about today?
00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:24.720
Did you talk to your husband yet?
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:25.280
Okay, great.
00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:26.480
Can we start on Monday?
00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:26.720
Right.
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:29.600
And so you're just on top of it because you're desperate.
00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:30.000
Yeah.
00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.639
And they're like, they're really on top of it.
00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.399
I really appreciate the professionalism.
00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:35.199
You're like, uh-huh.
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:35.680
Uh-huh.
00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:36.240
Uh-huh.
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:36.959
Yep.
00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:37.920
That's why.
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:38.720
This is how I do it.
00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:40.160
On professional.
00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:42.160
Can I borrow$100?
00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:46.079
Uh, so trying how do we break that?
00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:52.079
How do we separate ourselves out from being busy and still stay busy, but also stay booked?
00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.560
Where I don't, I'm not worried about next month.
00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.639
I mean, right now, a lot of our coaching clients, we're planning four, five, six months out.
00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:04.480
I've got a couple of guys that have some larger jobs that are actually booking up the beginning of next year already.
00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:22.240
So, how do we start having that mindset of I'm going to zoom out, be a manager of this company to where I can make sure that we have enough jobs going and be looking ahead and giving everyone a really good experience and also telling people, hey, I'm slammed for the next two months.
00:05:22.400 --> 00:05:23.759
This is something I really want to handle.
00:05:23.840 --> 00:05:25.520
Is this, can this be a fall project?
00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:26.720
Can this be a spring project?
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:28.080
Can we push this a little bit?
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.280
If so, would you mind me coming out for an estimate in two weeks?
00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:32.000
Great.
00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.120
Now make sure you show up in two weeks, but that's all we got to do.
00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.800
You'll probably check in a couple of times.
00:05:36.960 --> 00:05:37.199
Yeah.
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.360
But that's that's what that's what we need to do.
00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:41.759
Or I just I'm booked right now.
00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:43.520
I don't have a lot of space.
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.360
Let's have a conversation about your job.
00:05:45.520 --> 00:05:49.520
Also, when I get that booked up, I can be a little more picky with my clients.
00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:53.520
I can bump my profitability up a little bit, supply and demand.
00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.920
And so I'm going to maybe I've got the next six months booked.
00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.960
I might have space for one job more at a time.
00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:04.640
I'm gonna, my next couple estimates are gonna bump up five percent in profitability.
00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:06.879
I want to make it worth my time to commit to those people.
00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:11.439
If they are, if they're not willing to wait six months, for sure.
00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:16.080
Yeah, if they're willing to wait six months, put it at your regular profit percentage and book it.
00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:31.360
Like that's the that's the beauty of like it's crazy how often you'll have guys that they they have a bunch of work booked, and maybe they have like two months that are like really booked out really heavy.
00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:39.520
And then there's like month three, month four, month five, there's like a little bit in the coffer and we we we want to build on it, but we're happy there's something in there.
00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:49.520
Yeah, and then somebody comes in and it it's a sixty thousand dollar project and they're trying to book it for like that month or the next month.
00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.720
It's like kick it, kick it down the road a little bit.
00:06:52.960 --> 00:07:02.560
Not only give yourself time, like figure out what their needs are, but also if you you're gonna you have these next two months completely booked out.
00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:05.920
Could you put another$10,000,$20,000 on there?
00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:07.920
Yeah, and maybe that's the right move.
00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:20.879
But maybe the better move is to build, start building out those other months and don't just have a windfall in one month because the when you spend more time prepping, they're gonna get a better experience.
00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:25.439
And sometimes you need to force the client into preparation.
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:25.840
Yeah.
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.360
Because they they don't know.
00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:29.040
They're like, well, we're ready to go.
00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.080
Just like, what's the next thing?
00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:34.000
It's like, well, the next thing is about a month-long process of us like going through.
00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.480
Oh, you're downtown Atlanta permitting.
00:07:36.640 --> 00:07:38.800
Okay, yeah, we're not starting anywhere.
00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:46.240
So but I can go ahead and get signed contract and be pre-construction and be starting to pull those permits while my other crews are executing these jobs.
00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:48.080
So we're actually still pushing it two months.
00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:54.480
Yeah, you can you can utilize your processes to help you manage your pipeline, yeah.
00:07:54.640 --> 00:08:00.800
Just like with the client and conversating with them about like what it's going to take and why I'm pushing you for a month.
00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:01.040
Yeah.
00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:05.280
Or why I'm pushing you for two months is because number one, I've got a lot of work going on.
00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:11.120
I could fit you in, but I think it would be better for us to like do all of the things that we need to do on the front end.
00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:11.280
Yeah.
00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.520
And that's going to take about a month and a half.
00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.560
And I'd really, honestly, I want some room for margin.
00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.920
So two months from now, I think is a good starting point.
00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:26.480
We we have a uh I have a client I coach that is up north where it gets very cold.
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.960
And he's pretty booked right now.
00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:29.759
Canada?
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.199
No, not that far north.
00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:32.799
Uh he's he's really booked.
00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:37.679
Like calendar is booked for the next six months through the end of the year, like good with jobs.
00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.799
Um, we're looking at January, February right now, talking about, okay, how do we, how do we keep those?
00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.399
How do we, you know, are do we are we hiring right now because we've got so much work that we can train another project manager to come in?
00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:50.080
Like we're having all those conversations.
00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.039
But what we've started doing is he does a lot of decks.
00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:58.399
And so what we're doing is calling through the deck leads and saying, hey, I know you want to do decks.
00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.039
Uh I know you have a deck that you need to get done.
00:09:01.199 --> 00:09:02.319
I'm gonna give you a discount.
00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:11.840
If we can go ahead and pour the footers by October, then we're gonna build the deck in January because we the pouring footers and digging into the earth when it's frozen is so much harder.
00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.960
Yeah, it's not worth the it's the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:22.480
Um, but if we can go ahead and get the deck started in October, let's do your footings and then we're gonna come back out in January and get the whole thing constructed.
00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:24.000
They're like, that's great, that's perfect.
00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.559
That's actually better because we're gonna be gone in the winter.
00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.840
We're gonna, you know, snowbirds, we go down to Florida during the winter time.
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:31.759
So that'd be perfect for y'all to do at that time.
00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:32.000
Yeah.
00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:32.240
Right.
00:09:32.319 --> 00:09:33.120
But we're gonna go ahead.
00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:37.039
If I'm if I'm not looking up till December and be like, okay, let's land that deck job.
00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.479
Well, we can't do footings.
00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:41.279
We can't, like, there's there's certain things weather-wise that we can't do.
00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:41.599
Yeah.
00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:43.199
Um, so it really helps.
00:09:43.439 --> 00:09:50.879
And you don't know how well you sleep at night until you get a you look at your projections and you got six months of work booked.
00:09:50.959 --> 00:09:53.360
And you're like, oh, okay.
00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:54.879
I'm out of desperation mode.
00:09:54.959 --> 00:09:56.639
I'm out of paycheck to paycheck mode.
00:09:56.719 --> 00:09:58.079
And now let's stay out of it.
00:09:58.240 --> 00:09:59.679
Let's keep booked.
00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:03.839
Every single month, we're booking for the end month that we're that we have space for.
00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:04.479
Yeah.
00:10:04.719 --> 00:10:05.279
Um, all right.
00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:06.479
So let's let's go through this.
00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.079
We've we've split this out to where it's like what a busy person does versus what a booked person does.
00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:19.120
And for us, again, we're defining those as busy as I got this week slammed, booked is I've got a couple months booked up and I know what's coming up.
00:10:19.199 --> 00:10:35.439
I'm very busy this week, but I'm also have capacity to the maturity in running a business to be able to say, hey, I'm carving out three, uh, three different appointments this week, three two-hour appointments that I'm putting on my calendar because I gotta get these estimates done because I gotta be filling up three months from now.
00:10:35.599 --> 00:10:43.679
And so how do we keep those focused and stay booked instead of just I'm busy this week and I'm slammed this week and we'll figure out next week on Monday.
00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:44.799
Um, right?
00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.639
Always busy, never booked.
00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:47.199
That's right.
00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.759
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:51.599
All right, so let's run through some of these.
00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:53.919
Um give a mouse a cookie.
00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.839
Busy knows what he's doing this week.
00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.519
And we just covered this one.
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.719
Book knows what he's doing in six weeks, right?
00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:07.039
If I can call you up and say, hey, let's look at your jobs, what do you got for the next six weeks?
00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:08.399
And you can say, let's talk through them.
00:11:08.479 --> 00:11:13.679
Okay, this job I'm doing this, and we've got a way that we're if you've got our software, we can pull up the software and look through it.
00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:15.759
We can look at your calendar and the software.
00:11:15.839 --> 00:11:19.279
Um, but we can really understand what's coming up.
00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:27.120
Um, we've got a projections worksheet we do with most of our coaching clients where we're looking at what jobs are landing, what months they're gonna be invoicing and and all that stuff.
00:11:27.439 --> 00:11:34.639
But can you do you know the difference of now versus six weeks from now and how busy and who's who's gonna be working?
00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.479
Uh that's that's a big difference.
00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.919
Um jump into any of these if you want.
00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:47.279
Well, busy honestly, the the whole premise of it in my mind is like busy.
00:11:49.199 --> 00:11:51.439
You can be busy and not be doing anything.
00:11:51.599 --> 00:11:54.799
Yeah, you can fill your calendar up with any number of things.
00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:00.559
Job site visits daily to every job, but to be booked, you need to be busy with the right things.
00:12:00.719 --> 00:12:07.439
Yeah, you need to be proactively putting the right things on your calendar, and not just putting them on your calendar, but doing them.
00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:07.839
Yeah.
00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:12.959
And those things are going to eventually have your calendar booked.
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:25.519
But like you you can like, yeah, just like you said, you can go to the you can go to Home Depot five times, six times, eight times a week, and you're gonna be pretty busy because you're spending three, four hours a day doing that.
00:12:25.599 --> 00:12:25.759
Yeah.
00:12:26.079 --> 00:12:30.879
But that'll never get you booked because you're no one else is gonna be doing the work to fill the coffers.
00:12:30.959 --> 00:12:31.679
It's your job.
00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:42.399
I I've got again another coaching guy that it's been more than six months and he's still running materials and sometimes picking up a hammer.
00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:48.000
Um, and the conversation keeps going back to how much do you want to pay yourself in this company?
00:12:48.079 --> 00:12:51.919
He's like, I'd love to be pulling 150 a year in with what I'm doing.
00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.919
I'm like, Do you think material runners make 150 a year?
00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:07.519
Like, you're you're making you're doing$30 an hour work, you're doing$20 an hour work running materials, but wanting to get paid$120 an hour.
00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:09.039
And that's doesn't that doesn't work.
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:15.519
Like you're gonna have to make up that money somewhere else because you're you're paying you're you can't pay a materials runner$150 a year.
00:13:15.599 --> 00:13:15.839
Right.
00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:28.399
And so the the mindset of my time is more valuable because I need to spend it making money for the company, not exchanging my time for money and not just be busy and running around and jump in jumping in the truck whenever I can.
00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:39.039
But how do we start really being a general manager of this company and looking at it to say, okay, what where do where should I best invest my time so I could be making$250 next year?
00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:41.679
Um let me go over another one.
00:13:41.839 --> 00:13:44.079
By and this is one that I love.
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:47.759
A busy contractor sells everything in front of them.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.879
A booked ranks their opportunities and paces them out.
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:52.319
Kind of what we started talking about.
00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:53.439
Like, what's the most important?
00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:54.479
I like that one.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.799
What's what is the the most important?
00:13:57.199 --> 00:13:58.639
What is in my wheelhouse?
00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:04.159
What's you know, I I've got a new construction, I've never done new construction, but I do a ton of additions.
00:14:04.319 --> 00:14:13.039
I might go after the$200,000 addition a lot harder than I'm going after the$2 million new construction because I'm probably not going to compete with the guys that they're bidding with.
00:14:13.199 --> 00:14:13.360
Right.
00:14:13.439 --> 00:14:15.919
And so how do we weigh those opportunities?
00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.000
How do we rank who we're gonna go after and where we want to spend more time?
00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:26.879
Because if you're busy, you don't have three hours a day to just sit and go through and write a bunch of estimates.
00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:28.799
This is part of our desk estimate process.
00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.240
This is part of our intake process.
00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:41.199
We want to be able to be busy enough and have enough leads coming in that each of these phases, I'm I'm I'm disqualifying myself in the in the running to do that work.
00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:45.519
Hey, that client, they got a$5,000 budget for a$20,000 job.
00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:46.639
I'm gonna step out of this one.
00:14:46.719 --> 00:14:48.159
I'm not gonna waste my time writing this up.
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.159
I'm uh, you know, from the intake call.
00:14:50.240 --> 00:15:01.759
So I'm gonna let them know, like, hey, honestly, I would love to take your job on, but I am absolutely busy right now and I don't think I've got the capacity and treat my my current clients well to say yes to your project.
00:15:01.839 --> 00:15:05.599
So it's probably not I don't want to waste your time going through the bidding process with you.
00:15:05.839 --> 00:15:06.639
I want you to.
00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:07.599
I understand that.
00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.159
I understand that.
00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:14.799
I mean, if you want to, it's$180 an hour and we can build some estimates together, but I don't No one else is charging me for that, but I want you to do it.
00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:15.279
I like you.
00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.319
I like the cut of your gym.
00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:17.199
I want you to do the job.
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:17.919
You're hired.
00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:20.319
So ranking those and and eliminating them.
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:28.000
I think pacing them out also, like I said, of the best thing you can do for a client is say, hey, this week is absolute bonkers.
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:29.599
Uh, would you mind?
00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:34.559
Is it gonna harm the process if we wait till next Thursday to for me to come out on site?
00:15:34.719 --> 00:15:35.279
No, that's fine.
00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.360
And we're not even gonna make a decision till next month.
00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:37.839
Cool.
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:38.799
No, no problem.
00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:40.639
Uh let me get that on the schedule.
00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:47.120
And I'm pushing stuff out, I'm building things out, and I'm pacing out when I'm gonna be doing my estimates and how many I need to be doing.
00:15:47.199 --> 00:15:49.919
What one data point you need to get to?
00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.279
Conversion rate.
00:15:51.439 --> 00:15:53.039
I land 80% of my jobs.
00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.199
I land 62% of my jobs.
00:15:55.439 --> 00:15:58.559
I land 80% after desk estimates.
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:02.079
And like there's a whole bunch of different numbers that'd be fun to find.
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:02.479
Yeah.
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:06.559
So all of those also will give you a number of how many estimates you got to do a week.
00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:15.279
If you're an 80% close ratio and I need to land, I've got like one thing that I literally start doing with another coaching client.
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:24.799
I keep talking about coaching clients, but we I stopped measuring what he was invoicing each month because he has he like he does he doesn't do our weekly invoicing.
00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.519
He does like large front end, large middle, large end.
00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:37.679
And so like his his uh data was like this month he invoiced 300 grand, the next month he invoiced 28,000, the next month he did 240.
00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:44.959
And it was all over the place because it wasn't measuring the amount of work he was doing, it was just measuring when he chunked out these large invoices.
00:16:45.199 --> 00:16:46.079
So we looked at two things.
00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.000
Number one, we looked at the labor he was paying out weekly, because he was paying his subs weekly.
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:56.319
And so I was like the the labor that you're paying out is equivalent to the uh amount of work being completed.
00:16:56.479 --> 00:16:59.120
So that's that was our first kind of low water mark.
00:16:59.199 --> 00:17:02.719
Like, let's look at look, let's look at where the money's coming out of.
00:17:02.959 --> 00:17:11.680
Number two, though, that I I we really changed his his uh what we were our goals were is I you're landing, he lands more than 80%.
00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:13.039
I was like, let's call it 80%.
00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:19.519
You need to bid this month whatever we need to be making each month.
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.640
If I bid that amount every single month, I will have enough of a pipeline of jobs to do it.
00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:26.799
So, how do we say yes or no to jobs?
00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.480
Well, I need to, number sake, I need to do$100,000 a month.
00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:32.720
I got an 80% land ratio.
00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:40.559
Let's round that, round some numbers and say I need to be bidding$120,000 a month to land$100 a month.
00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:47.279
So his high watermark on that one is how many bids have you done and what's the pipeline equal to those bids?
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.079
I've done$200,000 worth of bids this month.
00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:50.400
Cool.
00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:51.680
Don't do any more this month.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:56.799
You, you, if you land 80%, you're screwed because you don't have the cruise, you don't have the capacity.
00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:57.200
Right.
00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:04.640
So, like if we can measure out it's gonna like, yeah, I bid that, but one guy starting next month and another guy starting in three months.
00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:05.039
Great.
00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:07.120
Well, next month you're gonna bid the same amount.
00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:11.039
And so it's it's looking at a larger picture with your estimates.
00:18:11.120 --> 00:18:12.320
It was that confusing what I just said.
00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:25.279
I felt like I kind of went to No, but then on top of that, once you have that number, you can then look at your marketing and say, okay, how much money do I need to spend marketing to get 120,000 worth of bids?
00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.519
And that's my marketing spend every month.
00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:34.480
The the problem is contractors come to us for coaching to understand the stuff.
00:18:34.560 --> 00:18:38.160
And the hard part for us is like, cool, all this data is great.
00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:42.560
You've got to run things the right way in your software to get the data to gather the data.
00:18:42.800 --> 00:18:46.880
So we're gonna fix this stuff, but we gotta have four months of data gathering.
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.080
Yeah, really, this is just about data farming and trying to figure out how much data.
00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.600
Now, stay with me here.
00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:55.840
How much data can we get?
00:18:56.080 --> 00:18:58.160
How much data can we squeeze out of this?
00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:00.080
Don't you have a podcast called data farming?
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:00.400
Yes.
00:19:00.560 --> 00:19:01.039
With James?
00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:03.279
You go ahead and do an ad for it if you want.
00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.960
I mean, for people to listen to.
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:05.360
Yeah.
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.279
Are you are you guys tired of not growing anything?
00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:11.200
Well, here are data farmers.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:15.120
We got all the seeds, we got all the irrigation needs that you have.
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:17.360
I don't know, I don't know where to go with this.
00:19:17.600 --> 00:19:18.880
All right, let's go to the next one.
00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:28.560
Um, a busy contractor fills the gap by dropping the price because they're a desperation mode sometimes of, oh crap, I got nothing next week.
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.480
So they're gonna call around, drop some prices, try to try to land.
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:40.400
I care more about making the sale than hitting my profit numbers because I got nothing because I'm I haven't been thinking about next month or next week.
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:45.279
A booked contractor fills the gap from a bench he builds before he needed it.
00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:51.200
So I've got all these estimates out there, and I can say, hey, ah, three weeks from now, we got nothing.
00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:55.600
I'm looking at my projections worksheet next month and three weeks from right now.
00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:58.320
We we I got a 10 grand worth of jobs sold.
00:19:58.560 --> 00:20:01.519
Is everybody looking to do vacation this month?
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:01.920
Yeah.
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:03.120
Because it would be a great time.
00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:04.160
It's a good time to do it.
00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.039
It'd be a great time.
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:15.840
But I can look at that and and say, okay, let's call through what are our hottest leads and let's try to sell them and try to have figure out something that we can give them extra if they go ahead and sign for this coming month.
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:21.600
And you call them up, say, hey, we're we're slammed right now, we're slammed in two months, but next month is a weird lull.
00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:23.200
I would love to get your job running.
00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:25.600
You know, uh, and I will cut deals at that point.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:30.400
And and again, I'm not dropping my price as much as saying, hey, why I know you wanted your bedroom painted.
00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.440
We'll go ahead and paint that for you while we're out there if we can go ahead and do everything else, right?
00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:41.039
And so I might throw something in, I might, but also that prompting of I got space gives it a little bit more from clients like, okay, cool.
00:20:41.120 --> 00:20:42.160
Well, I want to get in line for that.
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:42.800
I want that space.
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:44.080
Yeah, let's plan for that time.
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:50.800
So I can call through my clients and start planning ahead of time as opposed to just, hey, I I got nowhere to be next week.
00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.560
Can you can we get started on your project?
00:20:52.800 --> 00:20:55.039
Can you give me money so we can do your work?
00:20:56.080 --> 00:21:00.480
Uh a busy contractor has jobs in his head.
00:21:00.800 --> 00:21:02.720
He's managing everything out of his brain.
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:07.360
A booked has a tracker, dollar amount, and a month on every one.
00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:11.920
Like I know what's happening, what jobs when, where, I'm using my software.
00:21:12.080 --> 00:21:16.000
I've got projections laid out for the next few months.
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:32.240
Um The other thing that this what being booked will help you with is the if you have clients with different type of pay structure that you need to be carrying money in the background, you need to map that out.
00:21:32.320 --> 00:21:32.640
Yep.
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:37.279
Because what you have in your bank account is fluctuating based on the projects that you're running.
00:21:37.360 --> 00:21:51.039
And if you have somebody that requires that they hold 20% of your invoices, or there's it's a lender that will only allow you to invoice things once they're installed, you're gonna be holding a lot more cash than you're used to.
00:21:51.120 --> 00:21:51.279
Yeah.
00:21:51.360 --> 00:21:57.759
And so you need to map that out with your other projects and see if it's feasible for you to take on a project like that.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:05.120
I I remember when you were taking on that uh the our first uh veterans one that you were doing.
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:10.320
And it was like, we don't know how the money is, but we know they don't want pay till installed, and also they hold back 20%.
00:22:10.560 --> 00:22:15.600
So it's a double whammy because even when they do pay a month later, it's only 80% of what we did.
00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:25.840
Um, and so the the plan was cool, we got to set aside X amount of dollars from our cash flow to cover this to break even, and then the final check will be our profit.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:41.920
And so we figured out that number before we said yes, as opposed to saying yes, and then figuring out on the fly and then being screwed and not paying guys, and like knowing those numbers and being planned with that allows you to understand what you can say yes to and what you have to say no to.
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.840
Um, busy calls subs when he needs them.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.480
Book tells subs what's coming two to three weeks out.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:54.640
There's no better way to lose a sub than to not let them know that you need him till the day before.
00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:58.000
And the hard part is a lot of subs are fine working that way.
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:01.120
But the problem is hey, I need you on Wednesday.
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.279
Sorry, buddy, I'm already booked this week.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:04.480
Oh crap.
00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:04.800
Okay.
00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:06.080
Well, when can you get out there?
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:06.480
Right.
00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:13.039
And so you're it works till it doesn't to just kind of let them know day by day where you're going to put them.
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:22.000
Um, if I've got two to three weeks out planned and I'm meeting every Monday saying, let's look at the next two weeks of your jobs, they're not out hunting more jobs because they know they got work with you.
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:24.080
And so A, they're staying loyal to you.
00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:26.320
B, they feel comfortable being here.
00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:33.440
And C, if they know what they're starting next week, they've got a lot more sense of urgency this week to get their stuff done or they're going to lose that next job.
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:38.400
And so if I'm showing them what's coming, the A, I can get their buy-in ahead of time.
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:43.120
So there's not any Monday morning, oh crap, that guy's not showing up because he's going to another job.
00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:53.279
And also, I can then give them some motivation to stay on their timeline for every single job because they're like, if you don't get this done by Friday, I'm going to give this Monday job to somebody else.
00:23:53.360 --> 00:23:54.320
Can you get this done by Friday?
00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:54.640
Yep.
00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:56.160
I will have all of it done on Friday.
00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:56.480
Cool.
00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:56.880
Great.
00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.279
Then I'll give you this other job that starts on Monday.
00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:00.480
Guys love that.
00:24:00.560 --> 00:24:05.360
And also then I get the accountability from them of like, I'm not motivating them to get done this week.
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.759
They just know if I don't get done, I'm losing dollars.
00:24:07.840 --> 00:24:08.640
So I'm going to get done.
00:24:08.800 --> 00:24:09.039
Right.
00:24:09.120 --> 00:24:15.039
So it's kind of a twofold when you're planning a number of weeks ahead of time with your subs.
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:18.000
All right.
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:23.360
Also in the software, if you're planning, if you're sending work orders to subs, it builds the Gantt chart for you.
00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:29.039
So if I say, okay, my cleaner is going to be on this date, it drops it right onto the Gantt chart when I'm sending them a work order.
00:24:29.120 --> 00:24:35.279
So it really kind of organizes it, builds your Gantt chart by go ahead and planning out who's doing what and sending them work orders.
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:41.120
Uh a busy contractor panics at the first slow weeks.
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:46.560
A booked contractor pushes two estimates back on purpose to create it.
00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:54.560
I'm okay with a slow week if I'm planning for I've got three jobs starting the following week and I need to do a bunch of pre-con.
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:55.200
Cool.
00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.400
I'm going to have an office week.
00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:06.240
I'm going to slow things down because I'm making a plan on part of I can't execute the next three weeks of this month without having a large amount of pre-con done.
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.400
Um, so I need to, I need an office week.
00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:15.360
I need four days where I'm not going to be in the field at all, and I can just turn my phone off and plan out these next large projects we're about to start.
00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:15.759
Yeah.
00:25:15.840 --> 00:25:22.880
What you need to do is turn your phone off, turn all of your social media off and become unrecognizable in one week.
00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:25.200
All right.
00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.640
There's two wolves inside of you.
00:25:29.120 --> 00:25:31.200
Whichever one wins is the one you feed the most.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:32.960
It's another podcast you got to promote.
00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:33.920
Understand that.
00:25:34.080 --> 00:25:34.480
Yeah.
00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.000
It's called man science.
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:37.279
The wolves in me.
00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:38.480
The wolves in me.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.039
I got a whole pack of wolves in me, dude.
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:42.880
All right.
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:46.880
A busy contractor measures a good year by how hard it felt.
00:25:47.120 --> 00:25:51.039
A booked contractor measures it by booked versus billed.
00:25:51.360 --> 00:25:52.320
How much did I bill?
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:53.200
How much did I book?
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:53.840
What were my numbers?
00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:55.120
What are my profitability?
00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.840
What's my net percentage of profit versus my gross?
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.880
Like all of those numbers are going to tell you if it was a good year.
00:26:01.360 --> 00:26:06.480
Most guys show up to the retreat saying, I was busier than I've ever been and I made less money than I've ever made.
00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:07.600
What the heck's going on?
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:09.759
It's because you're saying bit busy, right?
00:26:09.840 --> 00:26:12.080
Like you're not booked, you're just busy all the time.
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:27.920
You know, as we're talking through this, um busy just sounds like you're operating out of a place of emotion, whereas booked is you're preparing and you're being more scientific with your time.
00:26:28.080 --> 00:26:28.320
Yeah.
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:33.360
Like every one of these is emotional response.
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:40.880
Sells everything in front of them, fills gaps by dropping price, just carrying around jobs in your head, call subs when you need them.
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:44.480
It's all reactive, busy panics at the first slow week.
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:47.840
It's all emotional triggers.
00:26:49.120 --> 00:26:49.440
Yeah.
00:26:49.600 --> 00:26:50.480
No, I mean that's 100%.
00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:51.759
I have no notes.
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.120
I just noticed a pattern.
00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:53.519
Yeah.
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:56.800
Well, and it's it's all reactionary, which is emotional.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:02.720
Like it's and that's also translates to I got three clients that are yelling at me right now.
00:27:02.800 --> 00:27:06.240
And so emotionally, I can't even interact with the next estimate.
00:27:06.320 --> 00:27:13.279
Like I can't even like get there as opposed to I've got a two-hour block Friday morning to build that estimate, no matter what happened on Thursday.
00:27:13.600 --> 00:27:18.800
And I'm gonna get, I'm going to be, I can have those emotions, but I'm not gonna let them drive my actions.
00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:25.039
I'm gonna be planned and and have the actions in place on my calendar of when I'm doing what.
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:32.000
Um I think understanding how the rut actually starts and how it runs.
00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:34.080
Estimate turnaround start slipping.
00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.279
This is where it always starts.
00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:43.759
Is if I like one of my first questions uh in our coaching meetings that I have is how many estimates do you have on your desk right now that need to be written?
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:50.000
If it's anything more than one or two, and they were the ones that I went to yesterday, then we got a problem.
00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:52.880
Well, I've got four, two of them were from last week.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:54.160
I just haven't gotten two yet.
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:56.240
All right, that's that's a big red flag.
00:27:56.320 --> 00:27:56.880
What's going on?
00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:01.039
That's that's kind of my litness test of like, oh, things are getting crazy, things are getting sideways.
00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:03.120
How do we, how do we protect some more time?
00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:08.400
Um, pipeline dries up six weeks later, not next week, usually.
00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:13.279
So it's not there's not a sense of desperation mode to get things landed.
00:28:13.360 --> 00:28:15.279
It's like, I'm good, I've got a bunch of jobs.
00:28:15.360 --> 00:28:16.560
Yeah, six weeks later you get it.
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:20.800
It's like you glance at the calendar and you realize it, you're like, oh, I really need to get on that.
00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:24.560
And then the next fire pops up and you get invested in that.
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:29.440
And then four days later you look at the calendar again and you're like, oh, we need more work.
00:28:29.600 --> 00:28:37.039
And so you panic work at figuring out how to do marketing, and then the next fire pops up, and that's how it sneaks up on you.
00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.000
Yeah, it's it's the I'll deal with that next week.
00:28:40.080 --> 00:28:41.519
I don't gotta deal with it right now.
00:28:41.600 --> 00:28:45.279
And though next week the pain doubles because I didn't deal with it this week.
00:28:45.360 --> 00:28:45.519
Yeah.
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:50.000
And so it's like this kicking a down kicking the can down the road constantly.
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:58.560
And the can gets heavier, and someone keeps filling it with heavier and heavier objects until at one point you go to kick the can, and guess what?
00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:00.080
You break your foot.
00:29:00.320 --> 00:29:01.360
It's true.
00:29:01.600 --> 00:29:03.360
I mean, we've all done it.
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:15.440
Uh after you get the estimate turnaround slip, the fix nobody does is rank your open opportunities, keep what you can serve, and call the rest and push them a couple weeks.
00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:15.920
Yeah.
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:23.120
I think that's like when you've got seven estimates unwritten on your desk, call them.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:24.560
Hey, I'm so sorry.
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:26.800
I could some fires happen, I had to deal with it.
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:31.360
I just want to let you know, like, my current signed clients are priority over potential clients.
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:37.440
And I don't mean that insultingly, because when you're an actual client, when we start work on your job, you're gonna be my top priority.
00:29:37.600 --> 00:29:46.400
And so in this moment where I'm writing estimates for people, it's a secondary um concern as I got to take care of my current clients.
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:46.640
Right?
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:48.320
That's an okay conversation to have with them.
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:52.080
I I would respect that as a customer to hear that from a from a contractor.
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:54.640
Say, listen, if you don't mind, I'm gonna sit down on Friday and do it.
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:56.160
Now, the hard part is you got to do that.
00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:58.640
And if you don't deliver on what you promised, it's done.
00:29:58.800 --> 00:29:59.920
Don't even worry about writing it.
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:00.640
Dead space.
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:01.680
You're gone.
00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:05.519
Um pushing an estimate isn't losing it.
00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:06.640
Going dark is.
00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:09.519
And most guys go dark on accident until it's dark.
00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:11.279
And I'll just call her tomorrow.
00:30:11.360 --> 00:30:12.880
Oh, I'll deal with that Thursday.
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:17.680
Oh, I gotta figure out how to respond to her because I have bailed on her twice now.
00:30:18.080 --> 00:30:18.320
Yeah.
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.400
And then it's Saturday at 11:45 p.m.
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:27.279
And you're like, oh no, I never emailed her back.
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:28.720
I never sent that to her.
00:30:28.800 --> 00:30:29.759
Oh well, I guess I can't.
00:30:29.840 --> 00:30:35.120
So it's not a decision to go dark from on, but from their side, you walked out of their estimate and were like, screw this guy.
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:36.480
I'm never doing anything for him.
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:37.920
And that's what they feel from you.
00:30:38.080 --> 00:30:41.840
But for you, it was like, I I wanted so badly to do it the right way or get back to them.
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.759
I just kicked it, kicked it, kicked it.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:44.960
Now it's been three weeks.
00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:46.080
I can't call that guy back.
00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:47.200
And I broke my foot.
00:30:47.360 --> 00:30:48.880
And I broke my foot.
00:30:49.600 --> 00:30:55.360
Uh, and then gap filling by discount trains your marketing on your new price or your market on your new price.
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:56.320
It doesn't come back up.
00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:01.440
When you start discounting stuff, if that's the only way I'm landing a client is by discounting it down.
00:31:01.600 --> 00:31:06.960
There is no chance that I'm ever gonna get well paid on any job with that client in the future.
00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:09.840
Um, that's kind of I'm starting to set my pricing.
00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:14.400
And then it starts to uh like I cut my profit down to just to get land this job.
00:31:14.560 --> 00:31:15.840
Something goes wrong on the job site.
00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.640
Now I've got to hit them with a change order, even though it's kind of my fault.
00:31:18.800 --> 00:31:26.480
And it's just this ugly cyclical downfall because I drop my pricing day one just to land the job.
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.519
So don't fill gaps by just discounting jobs down.
00:31:29.600 --> 00:31:32.720
There's ways you can do it of, hey, we're gonna start early.
00:31:32.800 --> 00:31:34.000
I love to get this going for you.
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.400
One thing we've done is surge pricing.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.600
Like, hey, uh it's going into the winter seasons.
00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:42.160
I tell clients, is this something that you want?
00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:47.120
Like, I can give you a discount if you wait till the winter, or if you want to get done in the fall, no problem.
00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:50.160
We're just really busy, so I got to do our normal price.
00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:51.200
What does that mean?
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:51.440
Right?
00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:53.680
Like, what's your normal price versus this kind of pricing?
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:53.920
Yeah.
00:31:54.080 --> 00:32:03.519
But being like, I can be a little more flexible because it's easier to get guys to work in the winter outside up north because they don't have any other jobs to do.
00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:07.360
So I can build your I can build a deck for cheaper up there in the winter months.
00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:11.519
Uh so kind of having those type of conversations of of pricing.
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:17.120
Um James.
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:18.160
Clark.
00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:19.920
How's it going?
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:21.680
Not great, man.
00:32:21.840 --> 00:32:25.920
Um life's been life's been pretty vicious.
00:32:26.080 --> 00:32:26.400
Yeah.
00:32:26.560 --> 00:32:29.039
Um no one's listening to your other four podcasts.
00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:29.519
No.
00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:32.480
I have like have everybody that's following me.
00:32:32.560 --> 00:32:36.240
It's my mom, my aunt, yep, my grandfather unfollowed me.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.279
I get that though.
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:38.000
Which was hard.
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:40.000
It's a it's a tough listen.
00:32:40.320 --> 00:32:41.759
It is a tough listen.
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:44.880
There's a lot, there's a lot of gratuitous language.
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:47.680
There's graphic content somehow.
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.240
It's not a video, it's all podcasts, but it gets graphics.
00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:53.120
Rated X podcast.
00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:58.800
Uh I draw, I just do a lot of, I talk a lot about and then just like build pictures with my words.
00:32:59.039 --> 00:32:59.600
Perfect.
00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:00.240
All right.
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:13.440
If a guy does one thing off this list, out of the things that we've talked about, everything that that what a booked contractor does, what would you be your advice to uh to change one thing today?
00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:14.640
Let's say they struggle with all this.
00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:17.519
I'm just I just head down and this is how I run.
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:19.200
What would you change first?
00:33:19.360 --> 00:33:25.840
Where's the where's the first guidance as a coach um to get all of the stuff corrected by the end of the year?
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:30.320
Uh track projections, projection tracker.
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:34.720
So which one uh busy has jobs in their head, booked has a tracker.
00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:35.279
Yep.
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:35.759
Yep.
00:33:36.320 --> 00:33:37.120
That's number one.
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.519
I mean, that's what illuminates the whole situation.
00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:55.200
Most people, if you have not done something like this, the first time you do it will be a click moment because you'll see like all your jobs, uh the months, and then you're like, oh, this is how we look at a pipeline.
00:33:55.360 --> 00:33:55.600
Yeah.
00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:58.080
If you've never done it, it'll it do it.
00:33:58.320 --> 00:33:59.920
It'll be a click moment for you.
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:03.360
We and we've got a tracker that we give to all our coaching clients that we share with them.
00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:08.480
We've also about to have it on the software built out where it pre-builds all of your projections.
00:34:08.719 --> 00:34:14.000
But all that being said, um start with an Excel spreadsheet.
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:29.519
Put all the jobs that are potential estimates that are out there or jobs that you're running, everything that you think you can land in the in the rows, and the columns are gonna be month, uh month in and month out for this month all the way through the next 12 months.
00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:29.840
Yeah.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.119
And then just start plotting out this job's$80,000.
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:36.559
I should do 20 next month, I should do 30 the following month.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:38.800
And it doesn't need to be perfect, doesn't need to be specific.
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:43.759
Round numbers, round numbers, and and we're gonna adjust it, we're gonna massage it month in and month out.
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:47.920
But I want to capture day one, what we captured with all of our coaching clients.
00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:49.920
Day one, what is your projection?
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:52.400
And then day 31, where did you end up?
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:53.759
And let's see the gap there.
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:55.519
Let's start start honing in.
00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:08.079
Because if you thought you were doing 300 and you did 200, that means there's a hundred grand worth of work that your clients thought they were getting, but they didn't, because we're telling them this is what we're doing, and we were expecting it according to my projections, and then we didn't do it.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:09.360
So what's that gap?
00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:16.320
How do we start adjusting, start setting different um either getting things done quicker or changing how we write can charts?
00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:17.440
But yeah, I think you're right.
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:23.519
Like building out, having your projections of what can be and what will be really helps.
00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:28.240
We we do any job that we think is 50-50 chance of landing or above, we put on the projections worksheet.
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:31.840
And so we kind of manage 80% chance, 90%.
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:33.599
Okay, this one landed, it's approved.
00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:36.240
So that one goes into my approved work column.
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:45.200
Um, that being said, looking at any potential also gives you the decision making of, all right, we have nothing in October.
00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.280
If we can land this one job, we'd feel really good.
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:53.599
So I'm gonna go after this one and I'm gonna make that person, hey, I'm gonna you mind if I come back over there?
00:35:53.680 --> 00:36:02.880
I want to show you some sample boards that I've got, but like whatever it is to try and give yourself a leg up because I'm gonna target these three jobs because they all seem like hot leads that could start in October.
00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:05.360
This other job seems great, but they didn't want to start till the new year.
00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:06.800
So we're gonna wait on that one.
00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:11.440
I'll send them an email, but I'm not gonna go aggressive because I'm trying to fill October right now.
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:12.880
And they already told me new year.
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:13.360
Yes.
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:20.639
So it's it's I can look at it visually all together and make decisions around what estimate I need to double down.
00:36:20.720 --> 00:36:22.400
Like I only have so much hours in my week.
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:30.240
And if I've got a healthy pipeline of potential work, I need to start picking and choosing and sorting out who who I need to go after and who I want to land.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:40.320
If you struggle with only having a certain amount of hours in your week, you should listen to one of my other podcasts where I break down how to get like two to three times more hours.
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:41.280
Oh, really?
00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:43.599
I I thought you were gonna push your yoga podcast.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:45.119
No, that's the seven.
00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:47.680
Okay, and that's uh that's on long form.
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:48.880
That's a YouTube channel.
00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:50.000
It is, that's right.
00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:54.960
But there's no video, it's very it's like a black screen on YouTube, and you're just talking people through doing yoga.
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:56.159
It's it's an it's insane.
00:36:56.400 --> 00:36:58.400
Well, there's video if you go on Patreon.
00:36:58.720 --> 00:36:59.680
Okay, you gotta pay for it.
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:00.079
That's right.
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:00.639
Yeah.
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:02.960
All right, that's that's what we got.
00:37:03.200 --> 00:37:10.720
Um, if you want help with this, this is the I feel like we covered a lot of overwhelming stuff where guys are like, how do I do that?
00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:15.680
Um, I think this is part of this isn't a fix by tomorrow.
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:26.880
This is part of the processes that we have to build for your company to where we start, the goal is in the next four or five months, by the time the January retreat rolls around, we have a lot of the stuff in place.
00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:29.519
So if you want to get started now, set up a call.
00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:36.800
We uh I've uh if you're coming on the retreat, but you're not ready for coaching yet and you're signing up, we we're gonna be running a promotion very soon.
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:39.680
But it I'll go ahead and give it to you and we'll we'll announce it on this.
00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:49.119
If you sign up as a non-coaching client for the retreat, we are giving away three free sessions of sessions of coaching.
00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:53.599
So we're gonna do an intake right away, and then we've got some leading up to the retreat where we're prepping for it.
00:37:53.680 --> 00:37:58.320
And really, my goal is to get you on a really good path from now until January.
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:04.720
And to be honest, by the time November, December hits, when everyone's starting to really get serious and sign up, we're slammed.
00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:06.720
So we can't give as much on the on those months.
00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:13.920
But if you're signing up early, you're getting in on the early bird special, we'll do a meeting this month and kind of say, okay, what's your game plan for the rest of the year?
00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:21.760
What's it look like uh going into the retreat and start helping you kind of, even if you're not in coaching, get that growth trajectory towards the retreat.
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:24.639
So then you come on the retreat, really launch into the next year.
00:38:24.720 --> 00:38:26.880
So Clark, that sounds like a screaming deal.
00:38:27.039 --> 00:38:27.920
It's a really good deal.
00:38:28.079 --> 00:38:30.079
I don't know how you're managing that.
00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:32.480
It is costing me billions.
00:38:33.119 --> 00:38:35.119
Um, so thanks so much for listening.
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:48.079
If if you uh want to connect and and hear more about the retreat and talk through uh kind of the pricing model changes per person depending on what they're gonna be doing and what course they're going through at the retreat, go to contractorcast.com.
00:38:48.240 --> 00:38:49.440
Free 15-minute call with me.
00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:50.480
I'll tell you all about it.
00:38:50.720 --> 00:38:51.760
Love to chat with you.
00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:56.320
And uh hopefully we'll see you guys on the retreat and talk to you on the next podcast.
00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:56.880
Bye.
00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:57.760
See ya.