Incentive Programs
Ep.89: Profit-Sharing Strategies with Shawn McCadden
Money isn’t the only way to motivate your team, but profit sharing can boost morale, productivity, and help attract and keep good production employees.
Profit sharing can be engineered into the budget so there will be funds to distribute. As long as you hit the gross-profit margin, you can set up profit sharing, says Shawn McCadden. But you have to be careful and systematic in creating the system.
In this episode, Shawn discusses profit-sharing strategies with Tim and Steve, and how to create and maintain a profit-sharing program that will motivate your field team.
Shawn is president of Remodel My Business Inc. in Brookline, NH, and is a prominent figure in the remodeling industry. He obtained his builder’s license by age 18; founded, operated, and sold a successful employee-managed design/build firm; co-founded the Residential Design/Build Institute; and went on to become director of education for a national bath and kitchen remodeling franchise company. Today he speaks frequently at industry conferences and trade events. As an award-winning columnist, he contributes to industry publications, blogs, and writes a monthly column for Qualified Remodeler magazine. You can learn more at www.shawnmccadden.com.
You must have a sensible financial system already in place to make profit sharing work, says Shawn. There’s no room for guesswork. You also need a way to measure what’s happening on a job in the same way it was estimated for apples-to-apples comparisons. He discusses how to implement a profit sharing plan and the benefits, including:
- Starting with best practices
- The difference between profit sharing and bonuses
- Considering profit sharing as an overhead expense
- Training your staff to understand your budget
- Testing it before you roll it out
- Setting the goals
- When — and how often — to distribute the money
- Documenting your process
- Determining who gets how much
- Being a competitive employer in your market
- And more …
The labor shortage is only going to get worse, says Shawn, and a profit-sharing program — along with competitive pay, benefits, and time off — will help your company attract and keep the best employees.
You’ve Got Questions, We’ll Find Answers
This topic was suggested by one of our listeners who wanted to know how to begin a profit-sharing program. If you’ve got a question or idea for a topic or guest, send Tim an email at tim@remodelersadvantage.com.
New Dates for Extreme Business Makeover
Due to schedule conflicts we moved the Extreme Business Makeover to March 30 – 31, 2020. We’re still at the BWI Westin in Baltimore and we’ve added Bruce Case as a featured speaker… More content being added and we’ve got 4-5 great tools that you will be leaving with, so take a look at this event and we would love to see you there!
More information + Registration >>
Ep.41: Remodel My Business with Shawn McCadden
We hear it all the time — you can’t find good help anywhere. But finding new employees is necessary for growth. You have to add staff, and keep them — not just in your company, but in the industry. We have to step up in a big way when it comes to offering employees reasons to stay.
The first thing you have to do is define what you mean by good help. “What are we talking about,” asks Shawn McCadden. “Is it good carpentry work? Running a job? Or just a good person in general?”
In this episode, Shawn hashes it all out with Tim and Steve. They talk about finding, and keeping, good employees and creating a path for them to become great.
Shawn’s the president of Remodel My Business in Brookline, NH, and is a prominent figure in the remodeling industry. He obtained his builder’s license by age 18; founded, operated, and sold a successful employee-managed design/build firm. Shawn co-founded the Residential Design/Build Institute, and then become director of education for a major national bath and kitchen remodeling franchise company.
Today, Shawn is a frequent industry conference and trade event speaker. As an award-winning columnist he contributes to many industry publications, blogs, and writes a monthly column for Qualified Remodeler magazine.
The future of the industry lies with Millennials. Shawn discusses how to stop disparaging them, and start figuring out what motivates them. Turns out, much of what Millennials are looking for will also help you attract and retain employees of every generation. He advocates instituting a profit-sharing plan and creating an actionable progress plan for carpenters to move up, including:
- Avoiding fake job titles
- Why you have to train Lead Carpenters, not clone them
- Creating confidence in the team
- Using thermometers to measure GP and volume
- How to graph a workers career path
- Building penalties into a bonus for leaving the company
- The importance of sharing estimates with your Lead Carpenters
- Why job responsibility is crucial to job performance
- And more…
You have to make something happen, says Shawn. Stop making excuses and learn what motivates your workers, and create a plan that will help them achieve.
Give Us a Shout!
Do you have a great idea for a future topic or guests? Shoot Tim and email at tim@remodelersadvantage.com.
Ep. 22: Creating Bonus & Incentive Programs with Robert Criner
It’s a constant conundrum — how to motivate your people. Bonuses and incentives can work, but you have to structure them in a way that speaks to something more meaningful than just extra cash in pocket. Many business owners have tried, many have failed, and some have just given up.
If you fall into the camp of not knowing exactly how (or why) to create a bonus and incentive program, Robert Criner has answers for you.
In this episode, Robert, Tim, and Steve talk about finding the deeper motivation for offering bonuses and incentives. It all revolves around building a team you want to keep around.
Robert is the president of Criner Remodeling in Newport News, VA. Robert founded the company in 1977, and has led it to success and profitability. Robert began working for a remodeling contractor in the summer of 1972, when he started his own one-man operation, and today has a team of 15 professionals. He is deeply involved in the remodeling industry, his community, and takes the time to give back locally and nationally.
The root of a successful program is getting your team excited and involved. Tying rewards to job budgets encourages Production leads to pay attention to what’s being spent on a job, and how it all adds up. Robert tells you how to put a goal-oriented program in place, and the benefits he’s seen, with details such as:
- How to change behaviors on the job
- Why dumping a big pile of money on a table makes an impression
- Structuring your company for employee growth
- Bonuses vs. incentives and how they motivate differently
- Including the office staff along with Production in rewards
- Inspiring envy in your competitors’ employees
- And so much more…
Above all, keep it simple. Setting clear goals is the first step. And there’s also a definite bonus in it for remodeling business owners — you’ll attract and retain great employees, while making work fun and profitable for everyone.
Who Should Attend the PURPLE Production Conference?
This action packed conference is designed to meet the needs of all management level production staff including:
- Remodeling Business Owners Focused on Production
- Production Managers
- Project Managers
- Lead Carpenters