“Whether you are a new restoration business owner or have  20-plus years of experience, a sound marketing foundation is needed to ensure success. This foundation should include a well-defined marketing plan, with customer personas, all target audiences, an ADA-complaint website and promotional plans, with a total of 7 to 8% of sales revenue allocated to marketing,” Nia Sherrema Pearson writes.

“How can we prospect on LinkedIn and make more seincere connections with LinkedIn members whom we would like to become our customers? One approach not to use are automated systems that send out connection messages every day,” Robert Kravitz writes.

R&R is honored to formally celebrate women making strides within their organizations and restoration overall for the seventh consecutive year. This year, 46 impressive women were nominated and one remarkable individual rose to the top.

In this special Ask the Expert episode, Diana Rodriguez-Zaba, president of ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba serving Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, shares her story and insights. She is the winner of R&R’s seventh annual Women in Restoration Award and rose to the top of an impressive list of 46 nominees.

In this interview, Brett Lawton talks about scaling, growing as a leader and finding the company’s niche as a mid-sized service provider in a competitive, increasingly consolidated market. He also discusses offering general construction and restoration services, and the value of an executive team.

One of the most challenging hurdles in the crime, trauma and death scene cleaning industry is helping a client navigate a life-changing, traumatic event. The other challenge is marketing such a sensitive service without being offensive, appearing non-sensitive or overbearing. For almost four decades, Gordy Powell has tried to reinvent how to market this industry in a tasteful, yet practical and successful way. Here, he shares a new approach.

In this first article of a two-part series on respiratory hazards and protections, Barry Rice, CSP, shares steps to correctly set up a respiratory protection program. In the second article, next month, he will cover how to implement and follow the program.

Mili Washington, standards director with the IICRC, discusses the importance of industry standards, the value of ANSI accreditation, the rigorous and lengthy process of developing a new standard, the business case for embracing them, and on implementing them, and a highlight reel of standards in the works.

As an employee, trusted advisor or vendor, it is your responsibility to think about how you can complement the owner of your small business to help them grow and succeed in the endeavor they started. Here are six traits commonly observed in small business owners, along with how you can specifically support them with each one.