“Identifying potential future leaders, mentoring their development, and building a bench of talent for the future is paramount. The degree to which the new consolidated organizations succeed will be determined by the quality and cohesiveness of their leadership at all levels,” Norris Gearhart writes.

One of the greatest pains Timothy Hull sees small business owners endure is the cycle of being so busy working in their business that they can’t find the time to do the fundamental things necessary to grow it beyond where it is at that moment. They are literally slaves to their business.

If everyone in your local market has the same air movers, dehumidifiers and technical training for their technicians, how do you separate your company from your competition? You do it by training your technicians how to “wow” clients.

We must resist the subconscious urge to hire people in which we see ourselves — the full gamut of self from physical appearance to hard skills — and instead, map talent acquisition strategies to our deficiencies. This begins with an objective evaluation of your teams’ strengths and weaknesses, and from their hiring to resources that fill the empty spaces on your mantle.

From talent and culture, to greenfield investment, to renovation services, Daniel O’Brien and Mark Neirynck highlight their views on the most important items for restoration business growth in 2022 based on their 55 years of industry experience. 

We asked restoration industry professionals to answer one question as we embark on a new year: What is your top goal for 2022?

Ours is an industry where entrepreneurs cling to traditional ways of doing business. It’s an in-person service, after all. We work with our hands, we serve clients face-to-face. Who cares how tech savvy we are? Everyone cares, and if you don’t see that reflected in your customers’ priorities now, you will soon.

Eric Sprague and Larry Wilberton used many books to help build their cleaning and restoration business, but these four are the ones that impacted them the most. Regardless of what books you choose for yourself, Sprague’s call to action for anyone reading this article is to commit to reading to improve your skills.