How to Grow Your Contracting Business in a Downturn – In Just 7 Minutes with Tom Reber

Resources/Links:

• Check out Tom’s Worksheet: http://www.thecontractorfight.com/50

Summary
Is it difficult for you to take your business as a contractor to the next level? Do you want to steady and widen your sales? Are you ready to avoid “feast and famine”?

Tom Reber is the creator of The Contractor Fight, a movement of Home Improvement Contractors who are taking back control of their businesses and fattening their wallets.

In this episode, Tom talks about how it’s possible for you to increase your sales as a contactor without overworking. He also shares his insights on what you should do and what you should avoid as a contractor.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 1:25 – Tom’s ideal client: “Our ideal client is the already successful Home Improvement Contractor. The guy, or the girl, that person who they know they have another gear. They’ve proven they can make some money; they can sell some jobs; they can get the phone to ring. But they just can’t seem to get to that next level, whatever that next level means for them.”
• 1:53 – Problem Tom helps solve: “Well, contrary to popular belief, the average Home Improvement Contractor in the United States only makes about 55 to 60 grand a year. And so, with all the risks they take, and this and that, most of them like, you know, most entrepreneurs, you’re good at the craft, right? You know the thing, but nobody ever taught you how to run a business, how to lead people, how to sell, what it means to really know your numbers, marketing, and all those things. And so, that’s really the big problem. At the end of the day time these guys are, they’re broke, they’ve worked 10, 20 years in a career that they have nothing to show for it.”
• 2:58 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Tom: “It’s feast or famine. You know, the phone’s ringing 40 times a day or it’s not ringing at all. I’ve got a crazy amount of work and I don’t know how I’m going to do it all. Or I’ve got nothing on the calendar for the next, you know, three weeks. So, feast or famine.”
• 3:55 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Tom’s solution: “Well, they try it out to work the problem. They just think putting in more hours, more time, taking on more projects, more clients more jobs, that’s a big mistake people make. They also, try to do it all instead of what we say hit one nail in at a time. You know, if I’m a carpenter and I’m tapping a nail in over here and one in over here, at the end of the day, if I never finished a nail, I got upset nails, I accomplished nothing. Exactly. And so that’s a big thing.”
• 5:03 – Tom’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “So, this is the game-changer. Seriously. Like, we’ve seen this happen with thousands of people over the years. If you simply figure out exactly what it’s going to cost you to produce the job, so, say labor’s going to be 300 bucks, the material’s going to be 100 bucks, it’s 400 bucks. At least double it and sell it there so that you’ll have after you produce the work, you have what we call a 50% gross profit.”
• 6:01 – Tom’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Tom’s Worksheet: thecontractorfight.com/50
• 7:13 – Q: Why do I do this? A: It really comes down to the fact that my mission with The Contractor Fight and our company is to bring respect and dignity back to the trades. For years, decades, people have been telling us, “If you don’t go to college, you’re a loser.” You know, “The trades are a good fallback option,” and stuff like that.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“ If you simply figure out exactly what it's going to cost you to produce the job, at least double it and sell it there so that after you produce the work, you have what we call a 50% gross profit. ” - Tom Reber Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 0:09
Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. Today I am joined by one of the most colourful characters in the United States of God bless America, Tom Reber. Tom, very warm welcome, sir.

Tom Reber 0:21
Thank you. I appreciate you having me here, Tom.

Tom Poland 0:23
Where are you hanging out, man?

Tom Reber 0:24
I live in Colorado Springs.

Tom Poland 0:26
Colorado Springs, that’s a popular place.

Tom Poland 0:31
For those of you who don’t know Tom, I hope that you’ve picked up the little clue that he’s an amazing brander. I mean, just, for those who listen to the podcast, you’re not going to see but he’s got grit, persistence, hustle, behind him The Contractor Fight. His t-shirt is color-coded with his background. He is the real deal. He’s also the creator of The Contractor Fight, a movement of Home Improvement Contractors who are taking back control of their businesses and fattening their wallets. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Tom Poland 1:03
So, here’s the deal guys, I don’t know if you’re a Home Improvement Contractor or not. Some of you will be, some of you won’t, but you will get gold nuggets from this. So, I recommend you listen up and learn. Sit at the feet of a master, Tom Reber is the master. He’s going to share with us in seven minutes, “How to Grow Your Contracting Business in a Downturn.” Tom, our time starts now. So, question number one is, who is your ideal client?

Tom Reber 1:25
Who’s our ideal client is the already successful Home Improvement Contractor. The guy, or the girl, that person who they know they have another gear. They’ve proven they can make some money; they can sell some jobs; they can get the phone to ring. But they just can’t seem to get to that next level, whatever that next level means for them.

Tom Poland 1:44
And that might bring us to question number two is, what’s the problem you solve for them? Did they hit a ceiling? What’s going on where they going, “Dang, this isn’t good enough.”

Tom Reber 1:53
Well, contrary to popular belief, the average Home Improvement Contractor in the United States only makes about 55 to 60 grand a year.

Tom Poland 2:00
Wow, all that work?

Tom Reber 2:02
Yeah. And so, with all the risks they take, and this and that, most of them like, you know, most entrepreneurs, you’re good at the craft, right? You know the thing, but nobody ever taught you how to run a business, how to lead people, how to sell, what it means to really know your numbers, marketing, and all those things. And so, that’s really the big problem. At the end of the day time these guys are, they’re broke, they’ve worked 10, 20 years in a career that they have nothing to show for it. They’re overworked. And they have a lot of lack of disrespect for even themselves because they feel ashamed of what they’ve built.

Tom Poland 2:37
Wow.

Tom Reber 2:37
If that makes sense, so.

Tom Poland 2:38
Yes, it does indeed. And leads us beautifully to question number three, five, and a half minutes left. You talked about the guilt and maybe a drop in self-esteem and so on, working their butts off and just paying the groceries, basically. What are some of the other typical symptoms that your clients have experienced before they find your solution? What’s going on in their lives and in their businesses?

Tom Reber 2:58
It’s feast or famine. You know, the phone’s ringing 40 times a day or it’s not ringing at all. I’ve got a crazy amount of work and I don’t know how I’m going to do it all. Or I’ve got nothing on the calendar for the next, you know, three weeks. So, feast or famine. The hamster wheel where you just feel like I run, and run, and run, and run. Never get anywhere. And then I think a big indicator is, if your debt is increasing year after year, that’s something. We also see a lot is that, if you haven’t figured out how to be profitable, and you’re digging into your own wallet and your personal money, that’s a big problem.

Tom Poland 3:32
Yup. And so, question number four, four and a half minutes left. You know, people aren’t stupid, they’re smart. And they know that there’s a problem, and they’re going to try and solve the problems. But they’re going to make mistakes and maybe try some of the wrong things. So, what I’m interested in with this one is, what are some of the common mistakes that your clients tell you they’ve made before they find The Contractor Fight?

Tom Reber 3:55
Well, they try it out to work the problem. They just think putting in more hours, more time, taking on more projects, more clients more jobs, that’s a big mistake people make. They also, try to do it all instead of what we say hit one nail in at a time. You know, if I’m a carpenter and I’m tapping a nail in over here and one in over here, at the end of the day, if I never finished a nail, I got upset nails, I accomplished nothing. Exactly. And so that’s a big thing.

Tom Reber 4:21
Another big mistake we touched on earlier is, they don’t develop their sales and marketing skills. It’s true, those are things that you can be, you can learn, you can grow and just like learning guitar or anything else. And the other big mistake is they continue to focus on the craft. And I always tell people, the minute you open your business as a contractor, contracting company, you take off the craftsman hat, that’s still important, but your number one hat has to be business owner, marketer, salesperson.

Tom Poland 4:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who happens to have a craft. Thank you, sir. Question number three. Sorry, three minutes left, I should say, and question number five. What’s one valuable free action, it’s a top tip, that someone listens to whether they work with you or not, they can take that does not give them the whole solution, but it’s going to take them a step in the right direction?

Tom Reber 5:03
So, this is the game-changer. Seriously. Like, we’ve seen this happen with thousands of people over the years. If you simply figure out exactly what it’s going to cost you to produce the job, so, say labor’s going to be 300 bucks, the material’s going to be 100 bucks, it’s 400 bucks. At least double it and sell it there so that you’ll have after you produce the work, you have what we call a 50% gross profit.

Tom Reber 5:23
If you do that, that’s the fastest way out of the financial gutter, the fastest way to pay off debt. Because what happens is you end up doing fewer projects, but you have more profit. And when you have a higher margin on that stuff, you’re able to add more value to your clients, create a better experience. And then, in turn, they refer you to people that are like them that respect and value those things.

Tom Poland 5:45
Sounds like, therefore, you just stop pricing on the lowest possible price and you start actually making some money and frees up your time. And you’re going to help folks with that, I believe. We have two minutes left. Question number six, one valuable free resource that we can direct people to.

Tom Reber 6:01
Yeah, well we have a real simple worksheet that people can download for free. If they go to thecontractorfight.com/50, fifty, and it just kind of walks you through how to figure out what to charge for your work to get that 50% gross profit. And, you know, that, again, that’s a game-changer there because most contractors undervalue themselves.

Tom Reber 6:24
And one of the biggest killers with mistakes we could have touched on earlier, I’ll just throw in here real quick, is that they’re paying attention to the going rate. They’re paying attention to what the TV shows and the magazines are telling you, you should be charging. And what, that’s any business, right? Like, the going rate is the fastest way to go broke. If you’re doing that, because 90% of business owners don’t know their numbers, you know. So, going with the going rate is going to make you broke.

Tom Poland 6:47
I used to say to people, you know if you price on the going rate, first of all, a lot of those people don’t know their numbers and they’re going broke. And if you price it as you compete with them, you’ll go broke too. Or they’re much bigger than you and they got economies of scale. You can’t compete for either way if you base it on gross profit. So, go to thecontractorfight.com/50, fifty. One minute left. Tom, question number seven is, what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t? And the answer, please.

Tom Reber 7:13
That’s a good one. I’d say, why do I do this? You know, why do I do this? And it really comes down to the fact that my mission with The Contractor Fight and our company is to bring respect and dignity back to the trades. For years, decades, people have been telling us, “If you don’t go to college, you’re a loser.” You know, “The trades are a good fallback option,” and stuff like that.

Tom Reber 7:30
So, everything we do here, we offer more free content than anyone in the world when it comes to helping people’s contracting business. And we just tell people, everything you need is there to help you implement. If you want to move faster, then join one of our programs and pay us, and we’ll help you move faster. That’s really it. But it’s about leveling up, bringing that dignity and respect back to the trades.

Tom Poland 7:52
Beautiful, love it. Tom Reber, sir, thank you so much for your time.

Tom Reber 7:54
Appreciate it.

Tom Poland: 8:05
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