The Roaring ‘20s

Every January, i like to write an  “intro to the year” column to tell readers about the new initiatives we’re adding. We have great things planned for 2020, and I’m excited to bring you up to speed.  

Extreme Lead Gen

We changed things up for 2020 with a new take on how the conference works. Unlike most events where the audience sits quietly listening to speakers, we’re making this one active. A series of hands-on business workshops will help remodelers attack marketing 

problems in real time. In addition, attendees can book an appointment for one-on-one consulting time with a successful remodeling business owner or strategic partner. 

Extreme Lead Gen is April 15-16 in Austin. To register, go to prextremeleadgen.com.

Extreme Sales Summit

The education for ESS this year goes narrow and deep rather than shallow and wide. Content is divided into two tracks: Home Improvement and Design/Build. This will help attendees hone in on the sales techniques they need to grow revenue. ESS is Oct. 8-9 in Phoenix.

Women in Residential Construction

2019 was the first year we tried a breakout session for remodelers, and it was a huge success. We featured shorter, more dynamic talks with active discussion between each speaker. The concept continues in 2020 with quick, insightful presentations that bring a hands-on feel. Topics include managing a design team, working across sales and production, and how to incorporate transparency into your estimates. 

The Women in Residential Construction Conference is Sept. 23-25 in San Diego. 

Wage & Benefits Study

We debuted the Wage & Benefits Study in 2018, and it quickly became some of our most popular content. That’s part of the reason we’re repeating the project in 2020. The new version will not only provide updated information, it will also shine a light on how compensation for the trades is changing over time. 

As in 2018, we’re focusing on a select group of metro markets rather than dividing the country into larger regions. This is because the bigger the area, the less accurate the data. For example, a project manager in rural California no doubt makes less than that same professional in San Francisco, so that if we included them in the same region, both would appear as an average, making the data much less accurate.  I am a total nerd for this stuff, and am eager to dig into this project again.

2020 is the start of an exciting new decade. We have the opportunity to build economic prosperity; new technology makes remodeling easier every day; and more women and young people enter the field. 

What are you doing new this year? Drop a note and let me know.