I recently got to spend some time in Madison, Wis., for one of our PR Night educational and networking events.
Madison is one of those markets that has been relatively healthy throughout the downturn, with a strong white collar economy, led by state government and the University of Wisconsin. Even now the unemployment rate is below 6 percent.
That said, most of the remodelers I talked to there are seeing fewer jobs and those that they’re getting are much smaller, just like...
Blogs
2 years 5 weeks ago
By: Jonathan Sweet
2 years 5 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
While running a Kaizen Blitz (a short term improvement effort focused on a specific issue) or having a systematic Six Sigma project can have dramatic impacts on improving performance, don’t forget about getting small ideas everyday. For example in 2008 Coca-Cola Stockholm saved 1.5 million Kronor by using Six Sigma but at the same time saved 9 million Kronor from using simple front line improvement ideas!
Research shows that successful lean programs have improvement that is front line...
2 years 5 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
Mission, Vision and Values are commonly used together, but what do they mean?
Mission is why you exist
Vision is what your striving to do
Values are how you do your work
In this blog we will focus on Mission. A mission statement, describes the PURPOSE of an organization!
A mission driven organization is focused. It is steered and driven by its mission statement, it is from here that the goals...
2 years 6 weeks ago
By: David Barista
Last month, I had the pleasure of spending a day in Seattle speaking to local home builders and remodelers about the growing importance of social media in their overall marketing efforts.
Of the 30 or so people in the room, about 60 percent said they currently use one of the “big four” social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube) on a regular basis for personal use, business, or both. We had a lively discussion on which tools are being used, shared success...
2 years 6 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
You may feel that by talking with customers on a regular basis and reviewing surveys, that you have you finger on the pulse of your customers thoughts and attitudes. But the key to Focus Groups is to that you get a specific group of people together to discuss indepth a specific issue. This gives you detail that you otherwise would not get.
You can ask general questions that are open ended i.e. not giving a yes or no answer. Also do not over react to the answers (poker face) in...
2 years 6 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
For a real relationship with trade PARTNERS we need to practice what we preach. First of all do you have a good partnership and relationship between the departments in YOUR homebuilding organization to start with. If your departments work in an integrated way, understand that you are each your INTERNAL CUSTOMERS and work as true partners then you will be able to translate that to the relationship with your trade partners. If not well …………… This partnership will involve not only working...
2 years 6 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
This is where so much time, effort and money is lost. Doing it right the first time, not having rework, call backs, defects and warranty issues, is obviously a huge cost saving!
It takes a range of tools to make this happen. A detailed scope of work connected to your contract is key. The scopes should be trade and builder supervisor friendly, which is easy to read, using diagrams, details, photos to explain the situation. The trades should be an integral part of the team writing the...
2 years 7 weeks ago
By: Jonathan Sweet
Jersey City, NJ -- Writing from the NARI Spring Business Meeting here, and the news seems to be mostly positive.
Most remodelers I've talked to are seeing business pick up, with much better first quarters than a year ago. It seems to be the case pretty much nationally, as I'm hearing it from remodelers from Washington, D.C., to Indianapolis to Dallas to Seattle and points between.
I'll be shooting some videos with some of those remodelers later this week, so keep an...
2 years 7 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
A critical danger in any business is tunnel vision. The focus on just one thing at the expense of others! We can be the best at one particular area while others suffer and pull us down overall . The key is to be aware organization wide of the range of issues we need to balance to create excellence. The National Housing Quality Award is a powerful tool to allow us to view an organization in its entirety. It is not a prescriptive approach but rather encourages the introduction of a wide range...
2 years 7 weeks ago
By: Denis Leonard
Now if your thinking, ‘in this economy I can ONLY see one week ahead, maybe a month at most, so what good is strategic planning?’ Well you STILL have a strategic plan, you are STILL following some framework you have established for your business, some agreed approach you are having your team follow. For example you are building ONLY certain types of home plans in a certain price range. Why that price range, why that home plan range? Because that is the strategy you have decided upon. So you...
