Profitable, high performing businesses are run by highly effective business owners. If you’re looking to grow your restoration business, or get a leg up on your competition, start by being the best leader that you can be. Here’s 3 key habits of highly effective restoration business owners that you can adopt and implement today to start growing your business.
1. Inspect What You Expect
This is all about accountability. Also known as supervision. Many of the problems that you face as an owner are caused by a failure to inspect the work that’s being done.
How many of these scenarios sound familiar to you?
- Long punch lists or complaints of poor quality work when you’ve been told the work is complete
- Poor estimating practices or a lack of experience with the software that leaves money on the table
- Office staff taking longer breaks and generally being less productive when you leave the office
If you expect high quality work, then you have to be able to inspect it. Create a culture of overall accountability, and ensure that the tasks that need to be done, are actually accomplished.
Here’s a few tips to improve accountability and solve those problems above:
- Conduct regular site inspections and make sure that you have enough site supervisors
- Inspect all estimates yourself, or ensure that someone else owns that responsibility
- Make sure your office manager is an extension of you
2. Spend Less Time Working in Your Business and More Time Working on It
There is so much work to be done each day, and many owners give all that they have trying to keep up with it. We call this the tyranny of the urgent.
You’re always caught up in the daily grind of running the business, that you never have time to focus on growing the business. But the truth is, you will never find the time if you don’t make it a priority.
You need creativity, focus, and determination, if you want to do more than what you’re doing now. If you spend too much time working in the business, and not enough time working on it, then you’ll become an obstacle to growth.
You need to shift your focus from daily operations to developing processes, procedures, and people. Make a clear plan to hire and fill the operational roles that you’re currently filling, so that you can concentrate on the bigger picture.
3. Manage Processes, Not People
When you work on developing the processes that help guide and automate workflow, you will produce more than if you tried to manage your people directly. You will achieve the results that you want much faster, and you’ll create a better work environment.
Owners who try to directly manage their people usually end up with dissatisfied employees. Their staff complain that they’re too much into the details, and they get accused of micromanaging.
By allowing your staff to help develop work processes, and training them to follow these in their daily work, you enable your staff to work effectively on their own. And this frees up more of your time to dedicate to results.
Once processes are established and proven to work, you’re able to devote your attention to outcomes and performance issues. You may find that you’re not getting the results that you want, and need to circle back and modify the work process.
Great Habits Are Just the Start
By developing these 3 great habits, you’ll be on the right path to guide your business to reach its full potential. Just this small shift in focus will already put you a step above the other restoration contractors.
And if you really want to see how far you can take your restoration business, let us help you grow. Contact us at the Restoration Entrepreneur today!
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