Here’s why I am not disappointed when only 9 people show up to a workshop that hundreds were invited to . . .Because over 80 more showed up on Zoom. That was our experience with a local company that invited all their U.S. branches to take part in one of our workshops. Participants were given…

Another way we have facilitated Business Development is through building community support in new markets and representation at Zoning Boards. A national brand was planning their first opening in a nearby state, yet found massive local neighborhood opposition. Some investigation revealed that the source of the funding to oppose the location was not connected to…

Thinking inside the Box does two things – it maintains that constraints can spark inspiration and drive a problem-solving mindset. It also gives us a great opportunity to talk less and listen to our customer more.  Here we have a blended family that, besides mom and dad, have three distinct child categories (the humanity “Box”): –…

The challenge for this luxury home developer was that they offered so many choices to make their models feel custom and unique that it became nearly impossible to digest the huge sets of plans for each sale into something that could be built accurately on-site. A system was needed so that mistakes could be avoided.…

An older couple was taken advantage of by a fraudulent Builder, who was using somebody else’s contractor license to pull permits. The one thing he DID succeed in was modifying their property to be their dream retirement home. Where he went wrong was using a minor inspection to stage a fake Final Inspection from the…

Here is a case study in providing executive coaching and designing management processes for a Class-A licensed contractor. They had relatively low annual revenue because of limiting themselves to Kitchen and Bath remodeling, turning down larger projects that would often come in from their trustworthy customer referral stream. They had been uncomfortable stretching out of…

A single business woman in Sales called me to ask if I would meet her at a property she was considering purchasing. When I got there I realized why. It was densely wooded and really steep, but it had an amazing view of the water. She told me it had been on the market a…

Many of my client’s customers approached home additions and renovations from the standpoint of “what is it possible to do” instead of “what do we need”. This is where a manager goes from comparing apples & oranges, to adding bananas and walnuts and avocados to the mix. It can be really difficult to evaluate non-comparables.…

A married couple with two teenagers needed options to make their home more suitable by expanding into spaces where their kids could feel independent, provide for their parents’ needs and be accessible to the rest of the family, yet provide private area for them to get away to themselves. There were a few catches –…

Years before the rest of the world used “Zoom” as a proper noun or a verb, I was contacted by a couple that works with the State Department. They had been serving for years in Southeast Asia with their young family. The last time they lived in their own house in Arlington, VA, both their children…