13. Leading A Professional Building Company With Clint Best

This is Professional Builder Secrets, the number one podcast to help you grow your building company safely and securely. Brought to you by the association of Professional Builders. Join us every week as we talk to industry experts and your fellow professional builders on everything you need to know to generate more leads, more sales and higher margins while improving the building experience for your clients.

Hello and welcome to the Professional Builder Secrets podcast, a podcast by the association of Professional Builders for building company owners, general managers, VPs and emerging leaders. Here we discuss all things running a professional building company from sales, processes, financials, operations and marketing. Hello and welcome. Today I'm joined by Clint Best, executive business coach for the association of Professional Builders based out of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Clint, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Thank you, Bosco. It's my pleasure. Good to be with you today.

So, Clint, you represent the North American contingent for the association of Professional Builders. Tell us a little bit about you and your background. Take me through a snapshot as well of what you do.

Yeah, so, gosh, I was in, you know, I've been coaching for nearly 20 years now. Prior to that I was principally in large scale retail management, operations management. I started out with a large department store in Canada. Here you'll recognize the Hudson's Bay Company, one of our oldest North American businesses, as a matter of fact. And yeah, that led to a stint with a large duty free company in Hong Kong. I had the good fortune to work in Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, San Francisco and New York and so moved around a lot, which was good at the time, but I'm glad that's behind me now. But it gave me a lot of experience in, you know, different cultures, working with, as you can imagine, many different, different people. When you're working in an organization like that and you're in a general management operations role, you, yeah, you deal with a lot of team issues and moving around a lot of different teams. In hindsight, it was never planned that way, but it was a great way to learn about business. You know, you're wearing all the hats, but you've got great support and systems in a larger corporation.

What compelled you to join the association of Professional Builders?

Good, good question. Well, I've always loved coaching. I started out as a generalist, then I moved into a niche. I transformed my business into a coaching business that assisted mainly contractors. So that was a best. Best Contractor was the name of the program. A Best contractor coach. I was working mainly with not just builders, but other type of contractors. And so in that effort I came across apb. Over time Russ and I got to talking, he ended up, long story short, he ended up acquiring my company. I came on board, I could see. And the reason, you know, to answer your question, the reason I, I was compelled was because I could see, I knew what my mission, the mission I was on and I could see the work that they had been doing in the same space and I, you know, they were doing such a great job and I had a sort of insight into how challenging it is to build the kind of back end training platform that APB has to help guide builders because it's a combination of having the right content and keeping it simple and implementable. And so I could see that that was the first thing that caught my eye. And of course, as I got involved with Russ and Sky and Andy and the rest of the team, I fell in love with them as well. And it's been a great marriage ever since.

Sounds like it. I mean, I think you and I have a common backdrop because we both are, you know, from. Well, I was from Canada before I moved to Australia, so I was very excited to interview you and talk to a fellow Canuck. But let's get into a little bit about the work you do. So, you know, you coach, you're mentoring, you're working with builders, owners, leaders. What do you love about the work you do?

Well, I suppose from a personal perspective, I'm a big learner. I love to learn. I love business, I love people. I'm a big student of psychology. I enjoy understanding how people tick. I also enjoy business and entrepreneurship. So personally I get a lot of gratification from the coaching, you know, from what I do in that. But I suppose when I think about the clients that I work with, what really gives me the juice is those aha moments when somebody connects the dots and they see something, maybe reveal a blind spot or, you know, get a greater understanding of something that's important to them. When you're working with a business owner, whether it be in the construction world or anywhere else, and you can affect positive change, in fact, transformational change. Right. Not just a change in something that you're doing, but a change in the way that you're thinking or looking at something, obviously that's going to lead to good things. And when you see the trickle down effect that happens within the company and in their lives with their family, quite profound.

You talk about transformation. How do you transform your clients to design professional building companies?

Yeah, that's a loaded question. Well, first of all, I don't transform them. They transform themselves, obviously. And I'm sure, you know, that I sort of see myself as a guide. And of course, APB has a really robust system of training on the back end, which really does a lot of heavy lifting for me because then I can just focus with my clients in our private mentoring sessions on, you know, sort of what's going in their way and getting in their way and, you know, speaking strategically, brainstorming strategically with them without having to explain all the bits and pieces and get down to a granular level. They can do that in the training. The combination of those two things is what really helps them design. I mean, we follow a format, right? We've got a program, we've got a recipe to help people get clear on their strategy and break down all the pieces and focus on improving their weaknesses and building on their strengths so that, you know, it's a combination of having. Having that backend training and also being a good guide, being a good listener, and helping them fill in the blanks, maybe some of the gaps with some of my education and experience, really. I mean, kind of mentoring is about sharing your experience. Training is about teaching, of course, and coaching is about helping people draw out what's already there and improve their performance in that way.

Sounds like you're applying both your experience and the framework of this content. Amazing content, and sort of fusing it together as well in your role.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And business principles don't change that much. In fact, I often say business is simple. It's people that complicate things. We get in our own way. So, yeah, absolutely.

What are some of the pain points that you will encounter with the builders that you're working with? I'm sure with having different types of builders from different walks of life in different parts of the world, I'm sure some problems are different, but I'm sure some problems also stay the same.

You know, there are very common pain points, regardless of what kind of business you're in. But I would say specifically in the construction industry, you know, not having enough quality leads, right? Quality opportunities, not having a good sales process to run those. Those opportunities through, not having good systems or the right people in the business, which can really tax a builder's time, not understanding their financials or how to price properly. I think those are huge areas that we start off with right away, right? Getting them set up with a format where they can understand what's going on in their business and what the numbers are telling them on the business side, I think those things, you know, marketing, sales, operations, systems, financials, and then on the personal side, just, you know, lack of confidence in what they're doing or in their abilities somehow. Most builders have never gone to business school, Right. They've sort of pieced things together or taken them from somebody else, quite often somebody else who didn't really know what they were doing. So bad habits transfer quickly. And then, of course, I guess time would be the other pain point.

Right.

That all those things sort of contribute to just pressures on your time. And when your time gets taxed, your energy gets taxed, and over. Over time, it's kind of like boiling a frog that can really wear you down. So I think those are some of the bigger pain points that I've experienced.

One of the visions for the association of Professional Builders is to help builders become those professional building companies, and let's sway the conversation into leadership, I guess. And my thoughts are, I'm trying to think about some of these common challenges that builders may face when it comes to leading this professional building company. What comes in the way or what are some of the obstacles that you have to overcome in order to see your brand turn into a professional building brand?

Yeah, I mean, that's a great, great question, Bosco. Yeah, I suppose it all starts with vision, right? Just having a strong vision for where you're going. A lot of people get confused by that concept of vision, but it's quite. In my mind, it's just quite simply a picture in your mind of where you want to go, and then you start adding detail to that, you know, mindset versus having the right mindset, believing that you can learn and you can adapt as required to really hit your goals. So that mindset and the idea that, hey, you know, your growth mindset versus fixed mindset, that sort of idea that Carol Dwick wrote about in her famous book Mindset Emotions. Emotions are huge. Emotional intelligence. That's where a sounding board can be hugely beneficial. Because, you know, who does a business owner talk to about their leadership skills? You know, someone who can get feedback. And I think the final thing that I would put in that list is communication, which involves all of those things. The mindset, the emotions, the clarity on your direction, just the communication, good communication skills, having a good communication rhythm within your company and being consistent with that. Yeah.

So let's put your coaching hat on for a second here and take me through the critical steps that you would need to work with a building owner or building director to design these critical steps for taking someone through and designing a professional building company. What are some of the steps that you would want to have them enforced.

Yeah. So obviously the strategic direction is where you start. Okay. What are you trying to build here? What kind of a market or a niche do you want to serve? What do you want to specialize in? So that would be. That would be a really important starting point. Just getting some clarity so you can narrow what it is that you have to deal with. And then, of course, starting to build. Build an organization that can deliver that with the roles and responsibilities sort of distributed throughout an organization chart. Then, of course, you know, some of those bigger systems, developing those bigger systems. You know, you need customers, of course. Right. That's the very first thing you need to start growing a company. So, you know, pricing properly, getting your marketing messaging refined. Again, you know, we talked about the sales process. I mentioned that earlier. Than just having an efficient process that doesn't compromise your time in a way that's unhealthy for the company, those bigger pieces. And of course, we always talk about leadership as being the glue that holds all those things together. Right. Which I think makes sense.

So, you know, you're talking about all these different things like systems and, you know, the sales process and the mindset and the vision. Would you say the time management or would you say that having resources or a budget or people, are these some of the hurdles that you would face trying to convert your business into a professional building company? It sounds like there's a lot of work here.

Yeah. I mean, time management is critical. And of course you can't manage time. You can only manage the activities they put in your time. So it's really about prioritizing the things that you're putting in your time and understanding the sequence that you need to prioritize things in. Oftentimes, building a company can be kind of a ratcheting effort.

Right.

Where you're. You ratchet one thing up and then the other thing is out of balance. You got to run over there and make an improvement over there. So just understanding how to navigate that is important, but really maintaining focus. Focus and consistency, I think are two really important elements in building anything.

Really.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, that does. That does. I mean, it sounds like, you know, I think if the focus is what keeps people disciplined, I guess as well, is what I'm getting from this conversation. Tell me a little bit about the character traits of a professional building company and the leader behind that professional building company.

Okay, well, so I mean that, to me, that's what leadership is all about, is character traits.

Right.

It's really about. Because every character trait comes along brings something important to the table. I think I've always believed that the three top character traits we need to accomplish anything are personal responsibility, being accountable for results and actions and decisions, and of course, the ability to take ownership of what you're doing, really have a sense of ownership and to be able to bring people into that, right into that shared effort that you're creating or getting people rallied around some shared goals. One of the exercises that we do when we bring a new client on board into our program is do a bit of a survey on those strengths and weakness, which usually shows up in some kind of a character trait and just to bring awareness around setting boundaries. Often the overuse of a strength can become a weakness if you're not aware of it. So I think awareness is a huge leadership trait. Just being aware of how you're coming across to people, how you're showing up in the world and how those things are really affecting your, your results.

Take me through the measurement process. You know, as a coach, you're probably looking at some form of critical data or KPIs or metrics as well. Where do you go as a coach or you know, with the companies or the leaders that you work with, where do they go to identify that they're converting their brand into a successful professional building company? Where does that show up in the, in the metric scale?

When you look at the big picture as a company, I mean, the way that, you know you're making progress is by hitting milestones that you've set, right? So you're creating the conditions for your own success. And those conditions might, might involve putting systems in place. A good financial management system, a good sales process, a good automated marketing system, a good team building system within your business, you know, and then within that there are ways to measure those things. And of course that's where you get down to more data driven, you know, hard numbers. And of course we have a fairly robust system of measuring the progress of a building company. So financial measurements most importantly, right, because whatever you do in your company is going to show up in your financial KPIs, right? It's either going to show up in your margin or it's going to show up in the number of contracts you're, you're getting or converting. It's going to show up in the leads that you're getting. So we pull that together in a dashboard. And that's a big part of how I work with clients. Right? Just, you know, not just having fluffy conversations about, you know, some of the challenges going on in the business, but really being able to pinpoint where the business needs attention and when it needs attention. As you probably know, you know, growth doesn't happen in a straight line. It happens in what we call an S curve or a sigmoid curve where, you know, you have to kind of grow and plateau. Grow and plateau, like going up a flight of stairs. You know, you make changes and then you've got to kind of slow down and let those changes take hold. And then once they have, then you can continue to scale up and in kind of a stepping stone fashion.

When you talked about the, you know, the grow and plateau, is there a long period of sort of plateau? Like what's an average period when you grow and then you've got to sort of scale and sort of stay at that stagnancy before you see the next level of growth. Is there a common timeline?

Well, as you know, businesses operate in quarters typically. I would say the answer to your question, in my opinion would be the quarterly, right. Being able to set some quarterly targets and drive those with some well placed changes and then reassess every 90 days.

What are the business leaders or business owners looking to you for support? And when it comes to, you know, leading a professional building company, what's some of those core needs that you have to sort of support them in?

Well, a big part of it is having a sounding board, right? Just having somebody that you can, who's. Who's plugged into your business, who understands what's going on, who's plugged into the industry. So have a greater understanding of what's going on in, in the industry in general. And again, but somebody who's. Who you're meeting with regularly, who, yeah, you can use as a sounding board, you can bounce ideas off of, get some validation off of, you know, are we doing this right? Does this make sense? You know, there's a lot of that accountability is a huge need. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, you know, who have sort of planned to do something, right, and never quite get around to it. So when you have a system set up where you get regular accountability, that in itself is massive. We talk about all the different protocols in a business, whether it be HR or marketing or sales or leadership, or even the construction process itself. You know, continuous improvements, the ability to make continuous improvements in, in those areas. I mean, I always tell people, right, you know, not trying to hit home runs every time, let's just make incremental progress and keep measuring our results. And happiness comes from making progress, not being perfect.

Clint, what do you believe is the state of the residential construction industry evolving to? We're now getting into the landscape of the industry, and I'd love to get your insight on this.

Okay, what's it evolving to? So, as you know, our mission is to improve the industry for both builders and consumers. And so I like to think it's evolving in that direction, and that's really what we're here to help achieve. It's a huge industry, right? I mean, it's kind of like the auto making industry. A lot of other industries feed into this one. So in that way, it's a really important industry, and it's the backbone of a lot of economies. I mean, as speaking in terms of North America, as the population grows, as immigration brings more people into North America, they need housing and they need quality work. The construction industry, I think it'd be fair to say that at times it's been starving for good leadership. And I think as that leadership comes into place, and good business practices and good habits, good skills, good companies, you know, the product and service that you're able to deliver improves, which, of course, eliminates a lot of waste, Right? Because there can be a huge amount of waste both in times, in terms of time, energy, and just cost in this industry if it's not managed properly. I think it's growing, you know, in terms of its evolution, and I think it's getting better. I think it's going to be more important to develop your skills, your business skills in this industry than ever before, because the smart builders out there are reaching out and getting that education, getting that guidance, and it's going to become more competitive and the bar is going to get raised.

So what you're saying is, is that the builders are actually stepping up and showing up, which changes the entire landscape, no?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Well, Clint, in your illustrious career, and you've won some accolades yourself, I was reviewing your impressive biography, and you know, you've won an award. I think it was Canada's top coach as well. You must have come through some big discoveries or you must have uncovered some surprises through your years of coaching. If you had to articulate either a shocking discovery or something that really surprised you about builders in this industry, specifically in your years of coaching, what would that be?

Oh, that's a big question, Vasco, but a good one. In terms of my own accomplishments in business and in life, it always comes from having some goals, but also focusing on the process and just continuously getting better at that process and being consistent it surprises me how many builders get into a building business without understanding the fundamentals of business. I think that was a big surprise early on, but I think the pleasant surprise that kind of goes hand in hand with that is the appetite, the willingness and the ability for most builders to pick up what they need to know and to put that into action and create really the kind of results that they got into business for in the first place. Because typically when I find them, they're not in that place.

Fair enough. Fair enough. What are some of the common blind spots for any leader out there, let alone a leader of a building company that they need to be aware of? You know, what's the most common blind spot that you encounter?

I think the most common blind spot I encounter with the clients I'm working with in the building industry are the financials. Right. Like, I suppose as a business blind spot, it's really the financials and not really knowing where they're sitting financially as they're growing their company. And that's dangerous, Bosco, because if you don't know where you're at, it's hard to make good decisions. And as a business owner, your number one responsibility is to make good decisions. Right. And so you need timely, accurate, and easy to understand information in order to do that. So I think on the business side, on the personal side, it usually is tied to some kind of a weakness that they have and how they're showing up in that weakness. Like, for instance, they could be just too nice.

Right.

And so they're willing to drop their price.

Right.

And they think it's something that they need to do. When they start to learn how to handle the price discussion with a customer and how to orchestrate your system around that, I think there's a big aha moment. They realize, wow, this isn't that difficult when you think about it the right way. Does that make sense?

Yeah. No, it does. It does. It sounds like you're probably also involved in seeing a lot of aha moments when they do find out the financials. And sometimes that may even be a rude awakening as well. It sounds like that you have to sort of coach them through that too.

Yeah. Typically they've got a feeling. Right. It's not a huge surprise to them, but there's a great sense of comfort that comes along with certainty. And not only that, but having somebody along on that journey that can help you not only navigate that, but also, hey, give you that pat on the back when you do do a good job, which is missing for a lot of Business owners.

Clint, the other question I had for you is around habits and successful habits. You know, a very wise person once said to me that success leaves blueprints. And I'm just curious, if you had to deconstruct the DNA of a successful leader in a professional building company, what would some of those habits be for that leader?

Yeah, another great question. I think one of the habits that we teach people right out of the gate is forecasting their business, planning and targeting their results and doing that on a regular basis. Right. I mean it's really a skill set that's born from the habit. Yeah, forecasting and planning is a habit. Regular communication with the team, implementing efficient, well placed meetings or check ins or huddles within your week. I think the habit of scheduling is huge, right? Letting your schedule do the heavy work for you. The habit of using technology, the habit of staying abreast of what's going on in the industry and what some of those new tools and developments in the industry are so you can take advantage of those. Yeah, I think those. Not beating yourself up.

Right.

Some of those personal habits, right. Taking time off, scheduling that time off in with intention, spending time with people who are very important to you. So really the things that contribute to a person's integrity, that mind, heart, body and spirit stuff. Right. Looking after yourself, physically, getting enough rest, all of those things are important, of course for everyone. But specifically for builders, I think staying on top of your financials, not only your, your financials, but your other KPIs, continuing to work on your business on a regular basis.

Right.

Working on your business to me is really defined by working on your, developing your people, developing your systems and process within the business, making the business less reliant on you all the time. I think those are some of the more important habits that lead to that.

For those builders who are considering joining the association of Professional Builders or for those builders who are out there that are new to this industry as well, what critical advice can you give them to help them on their journey to building that professional building company?

Yeah, well, I mean we talked about some of the things, some of the important factors, practical factors like, you know, having a vision and putting the right protocols in place so having a good structure in your business. I think the advice that I would give somebody who's thinking about joining APB or program like ours is don't be afraid to reach out for help. It's okay if you don't have all the answers. Look into it, see if it's a good fit for you. So first and foremost, don't be afraid to reach out. Sometimes we need to just have that humility that it takes to admit that we don't have all the answers and we need some help. And just being open, I think openness is huge. Right. I was talking to a builder that I worked with yesterday and he was asking me for some feedback on, because he's just come a long way. I think his business is four times larger and probably four times more profitable than it was when we started together. And for me, just watching his journey, just the openness, the openness that he's displayed, always open to trying something new and doing things a little differently. Because as we know, if you keep doing the things, the same things over and over, you're going to get the same results. Right. Does that answer your question?

It does, it does. I'm going to hit you with a final question. And this is more a clink question, I guess. And so has there been a book or a reference in your career that has really shaped your coaching career? Looking back in the last 20 plus years of coaching, can you think of a pivotal moment or a coaching moment or even a book that sort of shaped this career? Wow.

Think about that for a second. You know, one of the books I was working in, Hong Kong regional president gave me a book you might be familiar with called the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And that was back in 1995, I think. So that's a timeless, timeless book. And I probably read it about five times and I listened to the audio version over and over because, you know, you forget things, right? You forget things. But those seven habits, I mean, I think it's all, it's all right there. If you, if you want the recipe to success, just develop those seven habits. Pivotal moment for me in my career, there's been so many of them. Bosco. I think my most recent pivotal moment was coming in with apb. The coaching industry has, I mean, when I got into it 20 years ago, Bosco, it was kind of in its infancy in a way. I mean, you know, when you thought about a business coach, you might think about, you might have thought about someone like an Anthony Robbins or John Maxwell or somebody those days, those thought leaders that had written a book and had programs. So I think the development of the coaching industry and the path that myself and APB are on to niche into a specific industry and really to really have impact on, I think that's been a big milestone for me and it shows up in the results that my clients get. So I'M pretty happy about that.

Clint, it sounds like you're living your best life. We really appreciate your time and your energy and insights today, and it sounds like you're really passionate about coaching. So we look forward to having you come back and share some more coaching insights with us in the future.

Hey, thanks Bosco. It's been a blast and I'd be. I'd love to do that.

Awesome.

Thank you for listening. Remember to subscribe to Professional Builder Secrets on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review to learn. Learn more about how the systems at the association of Professional Builders can help you grow your building company. Visit associationofprofessionalbuilders. Com See you next time.