| Jan Williams, CGR, 2000 Chairman, NAHB Remodelors Council.
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What concerns you most about your business? Let me take a guess. Labor shortfalls? Rising costs? Computerizing business operations? Practical uses for the Web in your business?
If you answered yes to any of these issues, you’re not alone. And you’re in luck. The 2000 Remodelers’ Show will give you tips and techniques for dealing with the industry’s leading concerns. In a survey conducted last year at the Remodelers’ Show, participants identified these topics as most important to the future of their businesses.
As chair of the Remodelors Council and the owner of a remodeling firm, I know that all remodelers are faced with finding and keeping good employees. A special educational track for owners at the Remodelers’ Show is designed to help you organize and grow your business while still carving out necessary personal time. For example, "Hiring and Retaining Employees," presented by Paul Eldrenkamp of Byggmeister Inc., will help you learn to identify good people, write great job descriptions, hire effectively and implement meaningful performance evaluations. Other sessions such as "Growing the Business Beyond Yourself," "Compensation Plans That Really Work," "Developing Your Management Team" and "Employee Options: What’s Right for You?" will surely give you valuable information you can take home and use immediately.
Every business owner constantly looks for ways to improve business. "Pricing for Profit," "EXCEL’ent Estimating," "Organizing for Success," and "Marketing to the Decision Maker" are all part of a track focused on business essentials and practical advice on how to fine-tune your systems to improve your operation and increase your profitability.
Technology is changing. Some in our industry embrace the rapid changes and can envision uses for technology that will dramatically affect the way they do business. Michael Buckman, president and chief operating officer of HomeStore.com, will lead an executive workshop, "Technology and You: The Future of Remodeling," designed to illustrate the impact of the Internet on our industry -- past, present and future. Other sessions such as "Information Technology for Remodelers" and "What Can the Internet Do for Your Business?" promise to show us how to use technology to grow our businesses, satisfy our customers and cut our costs.
And don’t forget that the Remodelers’ Show offers more than education. There are networking and social opportunities to take advantage of as well. Be sure to register for the Remodelors Council Annual Gala and Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Help us celebrate the achievements of the 2000 CADRE winners, the CGR graduates, the Remodelor of the Year -- and our growing industry -- with fine food and dancing in a world-renowned museum.
I know I’m looking forward to several days packed full of information, new and exciting products, networking and visiting with fellow remodelers. I hope you’ll be there.