Construction Industry Marketing: 5 Strategies for Doubling Your Profitable Growth with Co-Founder of the Association of Professional Builders Sky Stephens on Episode #0212

Sky Stephens [0:00]
Hi, my name is Sky Stephens from the Association of Professional Builders and you’re listening to EA Interviews.

Intro [0:05]
EA interviews, Episode 212, inspiration, transformation success stories and The Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview.

Mario Fachini [0:19]
Have you ever wanted to help your customers more? have you seen that they were struggling in certain areas and they were good at their expertise, but just didn’t know. maybe it’s marketing? maybe it’s lead generation? maybe it’s just ancillary things that are so vital the business, but it’s not in their wheelhouse? Have you ever thought about starting your own Association? I know I have, and that’s why I’m excited to have Sky Stephens here. We’re going to be talking about the Association of Professional Builders, and why she founded it. Right after we thank our sponsor.

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Mario Fachini [1:06]
Here she is ladies and gentlemen, the lovely Sky Stephens. How are you feeling today, Sky?

Sky Stephens [1:11]
I am so good. Thank you so much for having me, Mario. How are you?

Mario Fachini [1:15]
I’m feeling great, I’m excited to dive in and ask you some questions about what you’re doing, and all the people you’re helping because it’s impressive. And I want to know how you got started.

Sky Stephens [1:26]
Yeah. So, obviously, our company is called the Association of Professional Builders. And that only started about five years ago. But the story starts about 10 years ago, because it’s my father and I that created the Association of Professional Builders. So, his name is Russ Stephens. But our whole journey started about 10 years ago, when we started another company, and it was a Marketing Agency, specifically, so a marketing agency for Residential Home Builders. And it was just so much fun because we were just spending all day doing marketing and generating leads for our builders.

Mario Fachini [2:07]
Why is that important? Because I know there’s a lot of people in The Expert Authority World listening, and they have the skill set, they have the expertise, but why are leads and marketing and all this so vitally important?

Sky Stephens [2:21]
Well, I mean, at the end of the day, you can’t eat, you can’t do anything in the business. You can’t help many people if you can’t generate leads, because that’s what gets you a sale, that’s how you pay your staff, that’s just how it happens. So, that’s why we started generating leads for builders, because so many people great in their own business, but lead generation and marketing, it’s different. But it’s just that important that we needed to do it for our builders.

Mario Fachini [2:52]
Did you receive a big need in the market when you started at 10 years ago? Or was it something people were asking you about?

Sky Stephens [3:02]
Essentially, what happened was Russ Stephens, he had a Safety Documentation Business. so, he was already dealing with builders. And he was essentially selling completed Safety Documents, like Workplace, Health and Safety once you’re on a Construction Site, those documentation that everyone needs. And basically, it was a sale that the builders like had to buy. So, there wasn’t a happy, exciting sale that was like, they just had to get this documentation. But after that sale was made, you just end up like, carried on talking to these builders. And then they got onto the topic of marketing. And you know, what do you guys do? you know, what are you doing here? And, he just gives some bits of advice based on how he was growing his business. And then, Russ and I were chatting one time and realized that was clearly a need. So, that’s when we set up a Marketing Agency for the builders. And there was a need from the builder side, because they wanted the latest, because they knew how to build, they knew how to walk them through the whole process. But what we figured out after a while, is we could generate all the leads in the world for some builders, and they still weren’t growing, or they still weren’t selling or whatever it may be. So, that’s when we realized, how is one build up so successful with these leads and growing their building company and signing more contracts. But one builder is complaining that the leads are quite rubbish. And after a lot of analysis, there was nothing wrong with the leads, it was the sales process. So, then it led us down a different path, we had to do a lot of training in the sales process for these building companies. And we launched a Sales Training Company to do that. like how to qualify on the phone, how to move them through your sales process. And that again, helped to an extent, the builders we were working with, but then other areas would fall in operations or pricing and Margins and Financials. And that’s when we realized that it’s full-blown business coaching at that point. And that’s what led us to create the Association of Professional Builders. Because it’s not just one avenue like marketing, its Marketing, Sales, Financials, Operations, and then even like Self-development, like Leadership Training, because you got to cover all areas to really have that successful business and building company.

Mario Fachini [5:21]
Well, that’s impressive that you built all that out. And I’m familiar with it, not in the Construction Industry so much. I’ve helped some people. But in businesses in general, there’s so many steps to it. I mean, the Lead Generation is one part of it, like you said, the Marketing, the Sales, there’s so many things, and then you said, the Self Development. That’s what hooks everyone, doesn’t it? That’s just what everyone in the world can’t wait to do is, just change everything about themselves and be better, right?

Sky Stephens [5:51]
Well, you’d be so surprised, we do a lot of Marketing ourselves. And when anyone comes onto our Database, we go through a ton of different questions. And one of them is essentially like we try and work out their perceived priority. What do they think their biggest problem is right now, and what do they want to solve? Is it Sales, Marketing, Margins, whatever, And Self Development is at the bottom of that list. The irony is, once anyone joins us as our Association and becomes a member, and they get access to different trainings, that almost always goes to the top of the list, because it’s Mindset Training, it’s Leadership Training. And that’s what helps you implement the rest of the other tactical side of it. so, it’s ironic, I suppose, given first what they want, then what they need, and, and then it all works out. But it is interesting.

Mario Fachini [6:41]
That’s a great Expert Authority Insight that you’re making there. Because as much as I was joking about it, and maybe I really should go to Australia sooner than later. I mean, most people I’ve noticed here in the US, if they can just buy it and not do any work, they’re all for it. But the reality is, you’re not going to figure it out until you have the competency, even if you do outsource, after that, I believe you do need to have some knowledge. you can’t just go in blind, i mean, that’s kind of crazy. But Self Development; everyone needs it. And it is so beneficial, and I’ve done tons of Self Development, Leadership Training, I enjoy it. But even myself, it wasn’t the first thing I want to do. I just want to go out there and say, sell and help people. But when you look at the tip of the Iceberg, it’s interesting, the resistance where some people don’t like the leads, some people don’t like the Self Development, some love the leads, but they hate the selling process. have you encountered that?

Sky Stephens [7:47]
I think that’s got a lot to do with personalities as well, right? Because the drain is to be able to just sell things automatically, don’t really want to talk to people all the time, especially for introverts, like, certainly myself. But that’s when a lot of the Self Development Training comes in. Because it’s just changing up your mindset. Because what do you not like about the selling? well, a big part of selling is dealing with rejection, because people can say no, and you’re not moving them to the next step. So, if we can work on ourselves and our mindset, we’re not taking that rejection. So, personally, we can learn, how to learn anything and understand that anything is learnable, we can do anything.

Mario Fachini [8:30]
That rejection component: I got enough of that in High School didn’t like it afterwards, didn’t like it, then don’t like it now. But I don’t let it stop me. Because I think people have a fear of it, and I tell my own clients, you’re going to let the one and a half. And those are my actual numbers out of 100 people, there’s usually one to one and a half, that are adamant. And it’s a strong note, the rest just need more information and timing. And when you fill the hopper, and you have quality leads consistently, you don’t put that pressure on yourself to have to force everyone. I think is the worst thing you can do, doesn’t mean you know, you don’t want to just jump to the end and everything. I think that’s natural for anyone. But what have you found works best, especially with Construction, is there a certain order you take them in? I mean, what if someone’s averse to leads, versus averse to sales, versus self-development? I mean, do you just bounce around and start them at points three, four, and five if they don’t want to do one and two, or do you have a Systematic Process that you take everyone through no matter what.

Sky Stephens [9:42]
I suppose to explain that we have a couple of levels, with what we do at the Association. So, the first tier; I suppose you can say is like our Membership, and it’s like a Netflix for Builders. It’s an on-demand training portal so they can go to whatever they feel more most drawn to, which is great in that perspective, because they can skip over what they don’t want to do and just warm themselves up on the training, they do want to complete and get excited by it. But what all that does is expose a bigger gap on what they’re not learning, we have another TR, and it’s like private mentoring. It’s like advanced mentoring. And we actually have it all laid out in a Roadmap. And we have like levels that we want to push our clients through, push all builders through. And it really ensures that I mean, they could be a level 10 on so many areas, but because they didn’t do this one thing that’s still on level one, and it really pushes them through so that they’re building a really strong foundations in that Building Company, in that business. so that by the time they get to play a much bigger game, they’re very secure, because they’ve done all the groundwork prior. So, it’s very different, it’s painful, right, you can’t push people to do something that they’re not comfortable doing. Always, you can’t always do that push people to do something that they’re not comfortable doing at the start, because it just means they’re never going to do anything. So, give them a little bit of what they want first, and then what they need. Because getting those small wins and achieving what they wanted to do, will make them feel more comfortable to do. Okay, maybe I do need to do some Leadership Training. That’s probably what’s falling everyone X, Y, Zed. And in these trainings, I can see my gap a lot clearer now, you know?

Mario Fachini [11:34]
Have you found that there are certain areas people gravitate towards more in the Construction Field? that they want to start learning first?

Sky Stephens [11:45]
Like in terms of what they want to start learning. The biggest perceived priority when anyone first gets in touch with us, the biggest one is generating more leads, ironically enough. And what we actually do is we have really detailed KPI spreadsheets for all of our builders, a bit dorky in that sense, so that when we’re coaching our builders, we’re not listening to what they think the problem is, you’re looking at data, and you can actually tell them what the problem is. And I think we’re all guilty of this, we all think we know, we like, Ah, you know, it’s lead gen, I need to create a new lead magnet or a new offer for my Website. And if you look at all of the data, they’re generating tons of leads. so, the problem is keep going down the funnel, okay, well, you’re not signing enough contracts, you’re bad at closing, that’s what we need to work on, forget generating more leads, let’s look at where it’s falling over. And you can look at the data and the numbers and actually make data driven decisions based on all that.

Mario Fachini [12:52]
That’s always interesting, when you’re like, well, I think this was working, but I think that’s working. It’s like, well, what’s the Conversion Rate? What do you mean? you know, that’s step one. And I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot of times where I’m like, this is going to be awesome, that’s going to be completely the opposite.

Sky Stephens [13:10]
You know, what’s sad, I’m not sure if you experienced this, but we certainly have ugly always wins, where he gets the best design of anything and put it out there. And then we’ll just do a split test with something else that’s quick, in the ugly version will always win and everything we do. so, that’s why you got to test everything.

Mario Fachini [13:27]
That’s funny. I can relate to that, there was actually something I drew out in CRAN as a joke, and I’m like, you’ve got to be kidding me.

Sky Stephens [13:36]
It’s just always the way, our poor team, we try so hard to make it all look as clean and as gorgeous and Professional. And it’s always the sloppier version that tends to win, unfortunately. But if it works, it works.

Mario Fachini [13:52]
That’s the thing, if it’s reaching more and helping more people, I found, I just have to just be fine with it, be cool with it, whatever. Because, I have a tendency to want to make things look better, and that was a hurdle for me years ago, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. you know what I mean, because it’s like, I think you’re just trained to want stuff to be nice. But when the reality is a is converting 88% higher than the other one, just roll with it and focus on something else, because you clearly found the winner. And that in itself is a win, because it’s not always the easiest thing.

Sky Stephens [14:34]
It’s so sure, and I mean, if you don’t listen to your data, why are you even looking at it? why are you reporting on it at the end of the day, or just wasting everyone’s time if we’re not going to listen to it and actually look at it, listen to it, verify it, we always trust but verify everything, especially if you don’t want it to win, you’ll just find; what can possibly be broken here. But if it is actually winning, great. The only time we’ll ever change things and I’m not sure if you do this, is when you’ve clearly outgrown it. And it’s not actually relevant for your audience anymore, it might still be working, but for example, certain images, that’s not what your avatar looks like anymore, and sometimes you just have to move on. so, we’ve had to make those calls a few times. But more often than not, if you’ve got a winner stick with it.

Mario Fachini [15:22]
It’s interesting. I feel like you’re reading my mind to an extent, I was just about to ask you, how long do you keep using something with the caveat of whether it’s working or not? Actually, if it’s not working. How long do you keep trying it? Like, if you’re really passionate about it, and you’re just like, it’s got to work, and it’s just not working? How long do you keep that up for like, two weeks? A month, six months?

Sky Stephens [15:45]
Oh, no, more than two weeks. Because you can just tell, right, especially when you’re spending money on it, you’re not gonna burn as much. It’s… unfortunately, it is what it is, what we have done is tested, tested it again, you know, like a month or two later, like, timing is such a big thing, right. It can influence so much. so, there was this one offer, and we were all like, yes, everyone’s gonna love this, our audience are going to love it, and we launched it and it didn’t work. so, to turn it off after two weeks, and like the next month, we were like, let’s just try it again. And we launched it again, and it didn’t work. so, to turn it off after like, I think about a week that time, it was really bad. And then like the third time, we were like, let’s just try it one more time. It’s some perfect timing. And it still didn’t work. so, it’s just still on the backburner. But it’s not as if it was up for three consecutive months. It was a week and a half to two weeks each time before we just called it.

Mario Fachini [16:43]
Have you ever had anything that doesn’t work, you turn it back on at some point, and then it just Skyrockets?

Sky Stephens [16:48]
Yes, because timing’s important, for example, like you’re really timely messages, you know, if anyone in Coaching or Consulting, when you’re actually talking about Planning, when you’re coming up to like a year end, whether it’s Financial year end, or even just Calendar year, those timely messages, really work. And you can actually do them really far out from the next year as well, as long as your messaging is correct. And you’re sort of aware that, you know, the New Year’s coming in several months’ time.

Mario Fachini [17:21]
Don’t have that next year’s messaging with last year’s numbers.

Sky Stephens [17:29]
I mean, you just got to launch it, and sometimes it won’t work, but as it gets closer to that, you can launch it again, because the time really has changed, and maybe that’s a little bit more urgency for your audience, you know?

Mario Fachini [17:42]
You’re encouraging me right now, because when you said two weeks, I’m like, I’m kind of at 30 days in some instances, which is a lot faster than before, because I still see people at two months, three months, six months, it’s like it’s not working, you need to just drop it, just change it. Because like you’re saying, in three months, you could do six variations. In one of those is bound to be more effective than the first one, versus one for three months.

Sky Stephens [18:14]
Yeah. and you know, you’re spending money as well.

Mario Fachini [18:18]
Well, depending on how much you’re losing a day might incentivize you also.

Sky Stephens [18:23]
I think, as well, depending on where you’re Advertising it. so, some people might even just be doing it totally free, It’s an Email campaign. But if you’re actually spending money on Advertising, look at how much you’re spending on a daily basis on that daily budget. Because if it’s high, if you’ve got a big audience, and you’re spending a lot, you can turn it off a lot quicker. you know, you’ve got your data there it reached, you know, 10,000, 100,000 people, it didn’t work, let’s just call it and move on.

Mario Fachini [18:52]
That’s if you’re watching your KPIs, though.

Sky Stephens [18:54]
Yeah, Data is important.

Mario Fachini [18:57]
What’s this mean? no idea, Let’s just keep running it.

Sky Stephens [19:01]
Painful.

Mario Fachini [19:03]
So, tell me about the Association now, because it’s great to hear that, you know, I always love the backstory, is that you started 10 years ago, and you launched the Association even five years ago, which is impressive. But how has it grown over those last five years since you officially launched it?

Sky Stephens [19:19]
So, we’re actually in five countries, so our builders that are members there in Australia, New Zealand, the States, Canada and the UK. So, the main thing that really has propelled our growth is it’s all completely Online, obviously. So, the way we reach all of our builders, it’s completely Online. We’re using channels like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and then really heavy on a lot of our Emails as well. And it’s just providing so much content. And I think that’s what’s really transformed it and its content marketing. It’s a slow burn, but it just snowballs year after year after year, and you know, we’ve had guys on our database even for 10 years from our Marketing Agency. And you know, they’ve said, I’ve been receiving your Emails for like 789 years, I’ve got them all in a folder, I always read them, and I just save them, and they’re still brand-new people coming, like replying to us or like, inquiring, but seeing that they’ve been watching us for years to get to this point. And that’s a big thing that’s transformed it from actually giving away all of that content, whether it’s written on video, just daily posting. And yeah, so now we’ve got a few 100 members across those five countries.

Mario Fachini [20:49]
That’s fantastic. Congratulations, what percentage of organic outreach are you doing versus paid traffic?

Sky Stephens [20:58]
Paid is definitely the bigger percentage for us.

Mario Fachini [21:08]
Any specific platforms? Are you on all of them?

Sky Stephens [21:12]
Well, we definitely spend the most on Facebook, obviously, a little bit then goes to Instagram. But the main difference Facebook and Instagram there, I’d say it’s more or less 50/50. But it’s your videos, remember that in your adverts on Instagram, they’ve got to be under 60 seconds, and we’ve got some quite long videos that deliver content. So, that’s when more of it goes onto Facebook.

Mario Fachini [21:35]
You listening to this? Something happened here, i want to hear that last part again, what’s a great way to advertise?

Sky Stephens [21:44]
Video content on Facebook. So, it sounds that’s paid Social is where most of our leads come from. And even when we’re teaching our builders and was doing marketing for our builders, that is the best way to do it as well. Because then you’ve got the flip side, right? You’ve got your marketing, search. That’s when people have intent, they’re actually searching for you. And yes, you know, whether you’re running a building company or whatever, they are great leads as well, because they’re actively searching for you. But there’s only a finite amount of people.

Mario Fachini [22:22]
Have it really dialed in that, they could be searching for 101 different combinations, and you have to make sure you’re showing up for them because they could search for a and you’re ranking for B.

Sky Stephens [22:33]
Totally. So, paid search, you definitely want to get in on that, you know, and do it well. But there’s such a missed opportunity for certainly like our builders, when we were teaching them to do it. Do content on platforms like Facebook, on Instagram, because what do you think keeps people warm, you can only dangle an offer in front of so many people that were in front of someone so many times. So, if you were to deliver content, just a few tips, maybe some proof, talk about a success story. You know, here the new design trends for this year, whatever it may be, that content keeps people one, plus you can repurpose it, you can put it in your emails, you can break it up into social captions, you can do a Facebook Live on it. You can do it, you can do a Blog Post, and then share it around. You’ve got a lot of longevity there.

Mario Fachini [23:25]
Maybe talk about it on the podcast.

Sky Stephens [23:31]
So, paid social, is the biggest game changer. Obviously, you want to make sure that you’ve got all of your back end stuff working as well. So, there is no point in spending any of this money or doing any of this promotion, if you don’t have a proper system to follow up in the background automatically, like your e-mail system, and your database like your CRM to do all of that automation for you. Because again, it’s just reusing a lot of your content, keeping warm, ready for the sales process, ready to enter them.

Mario Fachini [24:02]
There’s a huge Expert Authority Insight right there. I’ve been preaching CRMs for years, and it’s why I actually partnered with Pipedrive, and use them for the show because even before I launched the show, I had 400 people on the list out of 4000 in my phone that I was like I guess these can be the first 100 you know, I was brand new, and I had 405 in the list. And if you’re trying to keep track of that on paper and pencil, you’re gonna drive yourself nuts. Because even if you have all these areas ironed out, you still need to be personable follow up, do sales, help people and then actually deliver on it. This alone is a full-time job. And that’s with all of it all ironed out. So, I’m glad you’re teaching that, but more importantly, you’re focusing on the back end, because there’s a lot of people talking about leads and all that and I do too. It’s required you need it, but most people don’t realize there’s like 100 other steps in the process.

Sky Stephens [25:00]
Yeah, and actually going back to one of your previous questions like, if we really lay it out in the roadmap, what we have is like a big core training for our builders to go through, we call it the Sales Blueprint for builders. And it’s basically the proven sales process for a building company. And what we’ve done is we’ve made an entire blueprint there, like legs, and bubbles and everything, and you just follow this chain going down. And it starts all the way at the top from all different kinds of content marketing, paid social, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, and it all funnels into like an offer, and it funnels down to your CRM, what you send in your CRM from that point, to then get them to your first phone call to then a meeting, you know, and then the rest of the sales process. And that’s like such a core training, we really do ensure that anyone new that comes on board, we direct them to that pretty much first, because it sets you up with so much context for how to lay it out in your building company. As soon as you go through that. You can self-diagnose and be like, well, I’m missing that component. I’m gonna do a training on that bit next, you know.

Mario Fachini [26:06]
And that’s good, because not only are you doing it, but you’re tracking it. So, you know what’s going to be best to respond to, because there’s so many opportunities and things you can talk about, but what should you be talking about?

Sky Stephens [26:20]
Totally, like, even from a marketing perspective, like what they should be putting out to their marketplace.

Mario Fachini [26:28]
Because it’s gonna vary also, in what you’re talking about being in five different countries. Again, impressive Congrats. But I think there’s some different messaging in the US versus, Australia versus, New Zealand versus the UK.

Sky Stephens [26:43]
That is such a good point. So, the topics, yes, like, you want to make it more like specific to your local community in your area. And there’s going to be different things that you can talk about, where exactly you are. But the overall strategy and the tactic of doing it doesn’t change. It works, wherever you are. It’s just what you’re saying, you know, and the information and tips that you’re giving out, that’s what you’ve got to customize and pivot, and be very specific on so it actually cuts through the noise in your local area. But the overarching tactics and strategies, they’re the same, and they work. And we know that because we’ve been able to test it with our builders in Australia, versus a small town in the US, versus a small town in Australia, versus a bigger city, versus, you know, a brand-new development area. They’re working in all of those areas. And we can prove it because we track the data for all of our members as well,

Mario Fachini [27:43]
Which is so impressive, because most people don’t? And one of my favorite things to help my author clients with, is the messaging. I mean, I’ve used in many real-life presentations, I pull out $100 bill from my pocket and a $1 bill. And it’s like, what’s the difference? The message on the front.

Sky Stephens [28:02]
That’s great, I love that.

Mario Fachini [28:04]
I mean, it’s the same. It’s not papers for anyone listening that thinks it’s printed on paper. It’s not, it’s a cotton blend with some other stuff. I’m not gonna get into it. I mean, you could say, what’s the difference from Bronze, Silver and Gold, and there is some intrinsic value. But if you’re saying Apple A, versus Apple B, what’s the difference? If one says organic on it, and the other one doesn’t? I mean, that’s a positioning and a profit thing right there in different investment costs.

Sky Stephens [28:33]
Totally, and it’s something I don’t think is many businesses, so builders as well, but businesses in general, really pay enough attention to. You’re drawn to all the sexy stuff like Facebook ads, and YouTube and Google ads. But you’re sort of forgetting your core component, which is your messaging and who’s your avatar? What are you niching on, what’s unique about you? If we’re not nailing that, the tactics are not going to work on Facebook.

Mario Fachini [29:10]
All you’re doing is amplifying the problem.

Sky Stephens [29:14]
Totally. And you’re wasting money.

Mario Fachini [29:16]
I want 10,000 new leads, your process sucks, you’re going to lose 9990, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt: eight of them.

Sky Stephens [29:27]
And that’s the big thing, right? So, the purpose of us creating the Association of Professional Builders, is really just to improve the experience of both builders and consumers in the industry because I’m sure anyone listening, but even you, Mario, you know that this industry has a pretty bad reputation. Everyone had a horror story or had that horrible building experience building their new home or renovating their new home or at least their you know, two degrees of separation away from it. It’s what a horrible reputation in this industry. And there are two very different kinds of builders, you have Professional builders, and you have some Cowboys. And it’s the Cowboys that don’t care about the experience or undercut other builders and try and do it a lot cheaper but are really damaging the reputation of this industry. Likewise, you’ve got some Incredible builders, what they can schedule and bring together and build. But there’s not so much in the way of training of business processes or other systems that they can just deploy into their business. And that, in turn, can deliver a little bit more of a rocky experience for their clients, their consumers as well. So, at the end of the day, builders can’t and businesses can’t deliver world class experiences to their clients, when they’re working on tiny margins. So, we step in, we’re here to primarily help; we serve as builders, but then in turn is going to help the consumers in this industry, because if we can transform as many builders as possible into Professional Businessmen, Business Owners, and really transformed the way, they’re doing business, and they actually deliver a world class service to their clients, this whole industry is going to change, it’s going to level up, it’s going to be a lot more professional, the Cowboys are going to leave. And in turn, they’re taking care of the client from the very first inquiry to getting back to them instantly, because they have a CRM system, to educating them about the building process. What you know, some builders jargon, you may not know X, Y, Zed, then here’s the contract signing, it’s not a pushy, hard sale, it’s a really consultative approach, then they’re delivering exceptional service building the home because, they’re doing milestone meetings and all different things, they deliver an exceptional handover experience, that is transformative. And they’re the systems that we’ve gone out of our way to provide our builders, because a, they are 10 times better, and the service that they can deliver the consumers and then consumers, they’re happy with this industry. And then it’s going to be much more expected that you pay for a quote from a Custom Home Builder, because it’s a lot of work that goes into producing one. It’s like Law, Medicine, you expect to be billed in 15-minute increments just to talk to a Lawyer on their break. But it’s just not expected in this industry. And that’s what we’re here to do. We want them to improve that experience from start to finish, not just building from the first inquiry.

Mario Fachini [32:42]
That’s so great. You’re transforming the industry as a whole because it is so needed. You know, it’s a great industry, I love it. But you’re absolutely right, because someone can show up with a truck and a hammer. And it’s like, there’s someone else that’s got a eight figure business that’s been doing it for 15 years. And no one might be able to tell the difference. Because you know, the Cowboy like you’re talking about, he knows how to build a website and do the marketing quicker or better, or whatever the case may be. And I love it because it levels the playing field. But I don’t love it because, there’s a lot of people who need it and don’t realize it.

Sky Stephens [33:22]
And that’s where our content marketing steps in. Because we’re producing a lot of content, I think the big thing that we noticed, certainly with our businesses, a lot of like our market, they’re not actively searching on Google search for coaching and, you know, help specifically with their business. Some are and that’s brilliant, that’s great. But a lot aren’t. So, we have to use content marketing as a way to make them problem aware. And actually, show like, do you experience this? Do you feel like this? there is a better way, did you know it doesn’t have to be like that. And actually, give them some tips of what they can do to manage their client’s expectations better, or, you know, qualify a lead on the very first phone call, we can give them those systems and give them some free information. So, they can actually realize, oh, like, there actually is a better way. And then they’re more open to it. And then they look for more solutions.

Mario Fachini [34:23]
So, speaking of that better way, tell me about your biggest success story and the transformation you’ve been able to give someone. Who’s making their biggest mess beforehand that had the biggest turnaround from joining and working with you.

Sky Stephens [34:38]
Well, I’ll tell you about this one client springs to mind; that’s based in Australia, actually. So, he was running a building company in Australia. It had been going for several years before he even joined us. And you know, he’d even had business coaches prior to joining our private mentoring program and getting assigned one of our coaches, and he actually; more than doubled his building company in a year. So, suddenly it was up to 9 million in revenue. That’s a lot of moving parts. It’s a lot of employees. And he doubled it so quickly with this last coach. There’s a mess behind the scenes. So, he came on board with us. And we were able to completely clean everything out, look at every single number, and really analyze what state the building company was in. Right there and that like, I mean, when he joined us, he had no ability to track his work in progress. He had cashflow problems with that kind of revenue. Why do you have cashflow problems, there’s something happening in the backend that we had to fix. And then we weren’t doing any online marketing, either. This is built for an entire referral model. And if you’re relying on referrals, that’s a house of cards, you know, like what happens when the referrals dry up, you’ve got all this stuff, all these expenses, it’s so risky. So, that’s what kind of shape he was like when he first came on board. And within six months, he solved all those problems. And we have a system for tracking his work in progress. And ironically, for builders work in progress is different to workflow. So, we’re able to establish that with them as well. We set them up on these detailed KPIs. So, we can track every single number in his business and see where problems were so he can spot them. It’s not just for us to be able to spot them for him. But we gave him the tool so that he could manage his business properly and professionally. And actually, set him up with a strategy so that he moving forward could do content marketing, to have this perpetual funnel of new leads coming into the building company. And that was a transformation as in itself. I remember what he said and done, he delivered us a lot of like success stories, which is amazing. And he learned more in six months with us than two years with his previous business coach, because it was built a specific, I think that’s the main thing you got to look to people who are experts in what you’re doing, because there are the black swans that you just don’t know about that can get you. And so, if you can go to someone that’s got all that experience, and they’ve worked with hundreds of other building companies, they know what to look for, especially as well, the bigger the company, the most spectacular failure if it all goes belly up. So, you need to be able to really ensure that you got strong foundations, you’re a lot more secure. And in construction, that means holding a lot of cash, because anything can happen. So, it’s about building those reserves, building up the company’s equity, so that he was a lot more secure, if anything would have happened in the world. You know, that just blindsides you. So, I would definitely say that story comes to mind first, mainly because it’s very successful; on paper and on the outside when he first came to us, but it was restructuring a lot of the back end. So, it was like completely sound, that like there was no more like sleepless nights or anything like really secure. He was successful on paper before and now it was just like completely backed up after six months to transform, you know, the financial side and all the systems side in the back end.

Mario Fachini [38:27]
Well, that’s exciting to hear. And congratulations.

Sky Stephens [38:31]
Thank you.

Mario Fachini [38:32]
I have one more question for you. It’s with The Wheel of Whatever. And yours is, Tell me a country you want to expand to or going to that no one knows about yet. Where are you going next?

Sky Stephens [38:51]
Catch me off guard kind of question.

Mario Fachini [38:53]
That’s exactly right. But I wanted to be nice. So, it was still kind of easy.

Sky Stephens [38:58]
I love it. So, to be honest, it would probably be a little bit more in the UK, because we only have one or two members there at the moment. So, we’ve got like a few dozen in every other country. But we’ve only got one or two in the UK. And it’s definitely a market rustling obviously from the UK. So, that’s going to be the most interesting to try and grow that market a little bit more. His accent is a lot stronger than mine. So, you’d probably be able to do much better marketing with his accent over there. But that’s probably going to be the most exciting to do because, there’s more of like an emotional tie there.

Mario Fachini [39:36]
Excellent. Well, thank you very much. We’re gonna thank our sponsor and come back for The Imperfect Action Round.

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Mario Fachini [41:12]
And we are back with The Imperfect Action Round. Sky, are you ready to take Imperfect Action?

Sky Stephens [41:18]
I am ready. Let’s do it.

Mario Fachini [41:20]
All right. 60- second answers, three of them. The first question is, what is the fastest path to the profits?

Sky Stephens [41:28]
For Custom Home Builders, the fastest path to wellness, it’s all in the data. It’s all in the numbers. And at the end of the day, if you are not pricing properly, the traditional method is out. It’s not about adding a markup to your cost of sales. It’s all about looking at your true cost of sale and making sure you’ve got a net margin on all of your contracts. So, to be honest, I would say that’s the fastest a builder could possibly do it. Because this is a lagging indicator and building anyway, it can take months to sign a contract. So, as long as you’re pricing correctly from the start, that’s how you can ensure you can always make a profit.

Mario Fachini [42:06]
Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way for them to fix it?

Sky Stephens [42:13]
The biggest problem we see them making and the fastest way for them to fix it. Probably not qualifying properly, I would say, I think unfortunately, a lot of people end up taking on clients that they don’t want because they either didn’t realize the flags at the beginning. They didn’t ask the right questions, or they were just so desperately needed a client, then at the end of the day, the third reason isn’t good enough, you don’t want to take on anyone that you don’t actually want to work with for a long period of time. So, the fastest way to actually fix that would be to make a hard and fast qualifying checklist. So, when your very first call with a prospect, you want to probably have about seven questions that you need definitive answers do to work out if they’re qualified or not. If you build custom homes, one of the questions is probably going to be, do you have land yet? because, if they don’t, well, they’re not qualified just yet. You’re not going to talk them into a contract anytime soon, because they’re too early. So, you need to be working on other questions, and see where the criteria they can spit out to see if they’re actually qualified to spend more time with them throughout the sales process. And it saves a lot of time in the long run.

Mario Fachini [43:18]
Excellent. And number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Sky Stephens [43:26]
I love this question. The best way a building company can do that is honestly just to deliver a world class experience, but specifically a world class handover experience. I think a lot of builders can transform the way they have that final meeting with their clients and actually hand over the keys, and really make it an experience. It’s not a five minute here’s the keys. Here’s a little walk around your new home, make a day of it. You know, you want to deliver gifts, you want to have like a full tour of the home, show them all the cool gadgets. If they can transform the way they do that, they’re not only going to have the opportunity to get a ton of referrals from their happy clients. But you’ve left such a great lasting impression on your clients that you’ve been working with for so long. If they were to ever think about maybe renovating that home, you just built or extending or adding another extension or maybe just building their next one in five years’ time. Why wouldn’t they call you? So, I think handovers are really important for builders.

Mario Fachini [44:28]
I like that a lot, that’s solid. What books could you recommend Expert Authority World, that have made a difference in your business? Or like.

Sky Stephens [44:39]
Hands down? I knew the book to say straight off the bat, because this is a book every single person on our team has read and we talk about it all of our members constantly. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it. It’s a book called Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. Fantastic book because, I got to say the most profound thing in that book, is what changed our companies, our builders companies. And if you caught it in the book, it’s just basically the customer is the hero, we will get everything we want from us being the guide and showing them the path but let them be the hero of their story. Hey, we’re going to give you systems, but you’re implementing them in your successful building company and you’re a Professional builder now, go for it, so that anyone who’s got a business needs to read that book and truly understand that concept.

Mario Fachini [45:31]
Great recommendation. Thank you for that. Well, you’ve been awesome, where would you like people to learn more?

Sky Stephens [45:38]
Well, look, thank you so much for having me, Mario. I’ve got to say if anyone wanted to learn a little bit more about the Association of Professional Builders, you can find us on Facebook at the Association of Professional Builders, on Instagram at APB builders. And, of course, our website APB builders.com.

Mario Fachini [45:58]
Excellent. Well, thank you again, Sky, it’s been an absolute pleasure.

Sky Stephens [46:01]
I really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for having me, Mario.

Mario Fachini [46:05]
All right, Expert Authority World. We have another great episode here today. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. God bless.

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www.EAInterviews.com [46:46]
Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned and more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.