12 Things I would keep doing to make sure my restoration business fails

Introduction

There are some unique individuals who operate restoration/ disaster companies that seek to run away from success and do not evolve/ change at all.

In 1985, a surprisingly huge hit at the box office was Brewster's Millions. One of Richard Pryors very good films.
I don’t want to spoil it, but I am forced to for the sake of making a point here in this article.
I still recommend you see the film for laughs.
Brewster is oddly afforded an opportunity to inherit a whopping 300 million dollars. But the catch is, he has to spend (waste) 30 million in 30 days. But no one can know except for the lawyers.
The journey is full of twists and turns but he finds out that making huge stupid decisions isn’t as easy as he thought.
Now I am not calling anyone here stupid, but I think we can admit we don’t always make great decisions and treat our business as an investment and a precious project. We leave too much to happenstance and luck.
Our industry is in the middle of a very unique period for reasons that I talk about across different media channels at all times. I don’t love to talk about hard work, but pretending things are fine and will work out is not a good recipe. 

If I still owned a disaster company TODAY, and I was driven to insure it never grew, and actually lost me more money, here a few things I would do: 

1. STAY ON TPA’s

If I felt that revenue was more important that profit, I would make sure I stay on all TPA and Insurance Programs. 

•  Remain compliant to their senseless guidelines
•  Continue to wait for that dreadful day that they stop providing work
•  Remain so busy on their tasks, that finding new profitable sources was almost impossible
•  Continue to admit that in these circumstances, the client really never takes financial responsibility for their project or relationship with their carrier. 
•  Remain on fixed antique Xactimate pricing that does not yield adequate profits.

Don’t feel too bad. Our industry leadership and those before us failed to be forward visionaries and ignored all warnings of what this cult/ captive relationship would produce and cause long term.
Find a balance of continuing to keep the lights on and follow best practices, but dig deep and begin finding your own leads where you control your profits. Your customer is expecting to hire a professional who represents them on their property damage. Not a relationship of proxy loyalty. 

2. IGNORE LEARNING CLIENT ON-BOARDING

Client Onboarding is the newest Ninja Art of a curated set of processes to create a full system that benefits you, the contractor, and the client (home/ business owner). 

Simply stated, this is being a major professional with setting expectations, forecasting outcomes for the best results for all, and empowering your clients so they have realistic transparency of their power and relationship with their insurance.
You place the customer in the driver's seat and show them that holding all parties accountable can create incredible outcomes.

An environment where all team members from the first answer to the collections sound the same.
Make it clear that you have spent hundreds of thousands on tools and training with the sole intent of serving clients best so they can carry on with a safe, clean, and happy life and not have to worry about losing the things they have worked so hard for.
Client On-boarding also has the great ability to help select the right clients. The process will show signs that if everything is done right, you are not assured to be paid. The ability to comfortably say NO is immeasurably powerful.

If you want to add this incredible skillset to your arsenal, you can do that here. 

3. CONTINUE TO HIRE WORKERS, NOT LEADERS

If I wanted to continue to spend a major amount of my time and life running projects, estimating, and fighting fires at all times, I would continue to look at hiring below-average people with lackluster work ethics and attitude. 

I would use the excuse that I cannot find or hire A-Players because I cannot afford to pay the right wage or offer the benefits and future that hiring winners might take. 

If you look at ANY successful organization, you will likely see a team of talented individuals who take their trade and position very seriously. They act in a way that excellence is the goal and that if they do their job and make sure others do as well, their organization will grow so they can advance and ultimately help more people in the community. 

Leaders can exist at all levels and the ones that strive to be HIGH-VALUE PROFESSIONALS, will develop incredible teams

 4. CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITHOUT PROFIT. 

 If I was dedicated to staying small and feeling crushed by my competitors, I would choose to ignore doing what it took to be more profitable. Areas I would ignore would be: 

•  My cost to do business. Monitor my P&L plus other variable aspects. 
•  I would discount my job invoices due to improper client onboarding and TPA involvement
•  I would make sure to not hire strong leaders and force inefficiency and warranty work. 

 5. I WOULD NOT LOOK AT EQUIPMENT AND ASSET TRACKING

If I was convinced that I was never loosing precious profitable equipment, I would continue to ignore advancing technologies that are not only cost-effective, but oftentimes passive (requiring few steps from operators). 
Powerful tools like KAHI and others can take your profit potential of tracking equipment and cut way down on lost and unbilled usage. 

 6. I WOULD STAY ON XACTIMATE (for mitigation)

If I truly felt that being like everyone else and spending loads of unbillable time and energy on Xactimate was not possible, I would stay the same.
There are MANY additional formats, including T&M (time and materials) that provide a truly transparent and simple process.
Removing any need or cause to negotiate after a project completion is an ideal situation.
With T&M or any personalized and agreed upon pricing places you in a superior and professional position.
Definitely stay trapped in the Xact trap and hear “industry standard pricing”

How would you learn T&M? We know a place here. 

7. DO NOT CONTINUE TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP

If we continue to operate our companies from a place or reactivity and victimhood, we are providing a huge advantage to our competitors.
If we fail to take Extreme Ownership and continue the lifelong journey to unimaginable leadership, we will continue to be faced with the results.  

•  Teams that are not clear on the mission. 
•  Clients who do not see the value you have
•  Mistakes become habits and successes become rare

 Leadership is not a course, a meme or one book. It is a lifetime pursuit of failure and huge wins. Scars and Trophy’s.

8. CONTINUE TO IGNORE OPPORTUNITIES WITH COMPETITORS

 It is great for my ego to pretend that all competitors are enemies and that we do not share any hardships or painpoints.
If you hate a good competitor, that is likely jealously and insecurity.
Building a wall to like-minded professionals that share your vicinity can be a thief of opportunity.  

•  Unity in standards
•  Pricing understanding
•  Training Sessions
•  Equipment Borrowing
•  Service Sharing
•  Etc

 Some of the most successful contractors across this nation have a good working relationship with the quality contractors near them. In times of extreme surges and busy times, these relationships can increase capacity. 

9. CONTINUE TO USE WORK AUTHORIZATIONS WITHOUT CONTRACTS

 If for some reason, I enjoy chasing money from non-contracted parties and continually become faced with pricing not agreed upon,  and lack of terms, then I would continue to use work authorizations. 

 Professionals use actual contracts to manage their risk and ensure leverage on payment.
Good clients understand and accept contracts.
Those who take zero financial responsibility will not likely sign a contract.
This is a sign of limited or no trust and will not end with a satisfactory outcome.
We teach contractors all the time about the process of using a contract, placing a monetary value and outlining terms and conditions.
The ones that stick to this best practice see a major improvement in project efficiency, invoice creation, and cash flow with collections. 

Browse our Documents packages, which contain contracts that have been used 1000's of times. A simple click will take you there. 

10. NO GOAL SETTING

 If I for some reason, wanted to make my career and company as difficult as possible, I would choose to not set true, timeline, measurable goals.
I would just continue to take any job, regardless of value, and hope that I would get enough to make a good living.
I would not set a marketing plan built around my goals.
Even a tiny company can set goals and then build a simple plan to execute. This is not reserved for only large companies.
You don’t need to wait until you are at 1 million to be proactive and a pilot of you own future. 

11. NEVER ATTEND INDUSTRY EVENTS

To make sure you stay in the dark about new technologies, principles, and workflows, I would make sure I stay at home and miss the industry events. 

I would continue to tell myself that these are not for companies my size or that there is nothing there for me.
After 22 years in this industry, I can tell you besides learning from projects, I have done more with million-dollar ideas from meeting equally inspiring colleagues who share their best tactics freely with me.
Winners love to see others win. They do not go to these events in a locked box generally. Some are and you can ignore them.

Possibilities are abundant for major growth when surrounded by other All Stars

12. IGNORE THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

I wrap up our list with the one that I believe most contributes to success or failure.   

Once everyone realized the hazards of coal mining in terms of breathing, it was learned that since a miner could seldom truly recognize when the silent killer was at its highest levels, they brought canaries down in cages.
These would sing and make chirps cheerily until the air quality and breathing atmosphere got to a dangerously low level.
The indicator was, when the canary silenced, it was time to pack up and leave. Come back tomorrow. 

 Our own mind and body delivers signals through our brain and physical indications.
These can be major or subtle, but many people ignore them and work though, only to enter dangerous outcomes.
If I wanted to continue to ignore my canary and push myself through mental and physical complications, I could predict the future of my company and my efforts.
If is falsely noble and egotistical to subscribe to the Hustle and Grind mindset.
But it is biological in nature that we need a rest and reset.
Often times the rush and surge end up with catastrophic losses. This might be a lack of good processes from data.
Doing what we always did that used to work, to get nowhere. Then try again. 

CONCLUSION

This list and set of examples are clearly meant to be partially satirical in nature and deliver education in what is called a contradictory nature.
While sarcastic, these are sadly drawn from far too common examples we see with restoration contractors.
It is our company mission and personal goal to improve this industry we love by providing great sound and actionable coaching and mentorship in all areas of running a strong profitable business. 

When speaking to prospects, the list of “what if’s” and dreams always come out so smoothly, but too often, the action it takes or the strength to admit limitations restricts the ability to change.

Often the excuses are time and money.

Doing what you need to do will make you more money and buy you more time.

Take this list as humorous or as serious as you wish.

If there was anything you read that resonated with you, then do one of a few things:

•  Join our growing professional coaching program as a member of RBA- Restoration Business Academy
•  Contact a member of our team for a quick chat and more information at https://www.restorationadvisers.com/contact