In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Roofing and More Marketing Manager Sawyer Guinn to discuss the impact a CCN Membership has had on him and to learn how Roofing and More is using AI in its business. Sawyer reveals a troubling decrease in set rate at the beginning of 2025 and what actions he took to address the issue. You’ll learn who Roofing and More partnered with to improve its set rate to over 90%, the role of Artificial Intelligence in t...
Jun 17, 2025•35 min•Ep. 87
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Cilio Technologies CEO & President Rick Olejnik. Rick defines workflow management and identifies inefficiencies he sees among most contractors in this area. You’ll learn how poor workflow management directly impacts your bottom line, customer satisfaction, and your company’s reputation, and the steps you can take to avoid these issues. This episode is ideal for contractors that are looking to scale their...
Apr 15, 2025•26 min•Ep. 86
Marcus Sheridan, author of “They Ask, You Answer” and “Endless Customers” joins CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto for this information-rich episode of the Contractors Toolbox Podcast. Marcus will be the keynote speaker at CCN’s Spring Conference in Miami from April 24-27, 2025 in Miami. As a world-renowned communication expert, author, and keynote speaker, Marcus helps brands, sales teams, and leaders build deeper human connections and establish more trust with their aud...
Apr 08, 2025•46 min•Ep. 85
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Structurely Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer Nate Joens. This is Nate’s second time on the program. Nate shares whether AI can be used to build a call center for a company of your size, when the time is right to begin building a call center, the best balance between human call center reps and AI reps, how your call center should be handling aggregator or new form leads and old or rehashed leads, and...
Apr 01, 2025•27 min•Ep. 84
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with Celebration Marketing Founder & Owner David Michaelson. David has been in the direct mail advertising industry for more than 30 years and has extensive experience helping home improvement companies generate leads and close more sales. You’ll learn about the benefits of several personalized targeted direct mail programs, including neighborhood proximity mailings and new mover mailers. Plus, you’ll find out ...
Mar 25, 2025•25 min•Ep. 83
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with Revin AI Head of Revenue Daniel DeMatteo. Daniel shares his insights on how home improvement and home services companies can best deploy AI in their businesses and what it could look like over the next 24 months. You’ll learn about the increasing role of AI in call centers and which elements of a call center should be left to humans, the top ways to communicate with today’s customers, and receive an update on ...
Mar 18, 2025•21 min•Ep. 82
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with the creator of Ultimate Rainmaker Lead Generation Services & Rehash Program, Alan Michael. Alan has been in the home improvement industry for 40-plus years and has helped contractors accumulate more than $150 million in additional sales. You’ll learn how contractors can add 10-20% in revenue without paying more for leads, best practices and keys to making rehash programs successful, and mistakes to avoid w...
Feb 18, 2025•29 min
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with SMA Support Services Director of Ideas & Revenue Chris Diroll. Chris reveals some of the biggest challenges contractors face when it comes to communicating effectively and efficiently with clients. You’ll learn how to improve workflows and discover the key metrics contractors should track to ensure their customer experience is delivering 5-star results. This episode is ideal for small to medium sized home ...
Feb 04, 2025•22 min•Ep. 80
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by CCN VP Gary Cohen for a discussion on the importance of building a community or network of peers in the home improvement industry. Being a business owner can feel like a lonely existence. Gary and Drew talk about ways in which Certified Contractors Network fosters community and collaboration among business owners who are experiencing many of the same issues and obstacles. Gary highlights CCN’s three annual c...
Nov 30, 2024•20 min
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Ken Kelly. Ken took over his family business—Kelly Roofing—in 1993 and grew it to $50 million in annual revenue and 300+ employees. He sold the business in 2020 and retired at the age of 47. Ken shares his expert insight on how to properly grow a contracting business, including tips on what businesses at different revenue levels need to focus on most, five rules for growth he learned from Elon Musk, the impo...
Oct 29, 2024•26 min•Ep. 78
As of January 2025, new FCC lead generation laws will require contractors to have explicit 1:1 consent to call or text leads, impacting how companies can engage with their potential customers. Home improvement companies have until the end of 2024 to freely contact existing leads, making it crucial to ramp up outreach efforts before the laws take effect and then to comply with the rules after that. In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Structurel...
Oct 08, 2024•23 min•Ep. 77
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Opal Enterprises Co-Owner and long-time CCN member Tara Dawn. Tara shares how she’s doing more with what she has and how she uses a mix of traditional and modern marketing vehicles with an ever-growing tech stack to improve sales processes and increase lead flow. Drew and Tara discuss what’s working today and which types of offers and promotions are making the phones ring at a higher rate. This episode is a ...
Sep 17, 2024•29 min
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with MicroMeshGutterGuards.com (MMGG) President & CEO Karen Sager. Karen unveils the benefits of adding low-ticket, high-margin product lines that can be installed quickly to inject consistent cash into any contractor’s business. You’ll learn details of her fast-to-cash concept and how to take advantage of this approach, indications of positive cash flow that you can track, how to become more efficient with lab...
Sep 10, 2024•21 min•Ep. 75
In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with Renoworks Contractor Channel Partner Manager Jenni McMorran. The discussion is centered around employing effective email campaigns that result in booking more appointments and closing more sales. You will learn best practices for capturing email addresses, creating unique email messages for leads at different stages of the buying cycle, which types of emails are most likely to generate responses from homeowner...
Jul 23, 2024•21 min•Ep. 74
In this episode, Gary talks with CCN’s new Director of Member and Partner Experience. The discussion will address many of the new initiatives at CCN, including some changes to our Contractors Toolbox podcast. Other topics will be strategic partnerships, The new L&D branding of CCN University, and changes coming to our financing program, all of which will continuously improve our member experience at CCN. This episode is perfect for members of CCN as well as contractors who would like to lear...
Jul 16, 2024•40 min•Ep. 73
In this episode, Gary talks with Neal Christensen, Assistant Vice President and Relationship Manager at Enerbank. Neal discusses the benefits of financing and various payment options. He talks about the impact it has on cash flow, the financing process, how it increases viable leads for contractors, the positive impact on close rates, and more. He also explains the PreQualify and application process, and considerations when choosing a lender. The vast majority of your jobs should be financed bec...
Apr 09, 2024•47 min
In this episode, Gary talks with Brad Finck, Senior Vice President at Renoworks Software. Renoworks is a market leader in providing various visualization tools for a more professional and sophisticated demo in the customer’s home. Brad talks about how these visualization tools can also be utilized on your website, in social media marketing, home shows, and in other marketing and sales activities. This is a great episode to learn how to raise the bar in your sales and marketing with visualization...
Jan 30, 2024•26 min•Ep. 71
In this episode, Gary talks with Isaac Barlow, the Founder of BusyBusy. BusyBusy is a technology solution that raises the bar on field labor management and job costing. Isaac talks about how he created the BusyBusy solution for his own contracting company and the results were so strong after 4 years that they began offering the solution to the industry. Isaac also talks about the positive impact the software has on field labor management and job costing, enabling the team to focus on revenue and...
Jan 23, 2024•24 min•Ep. 70
In this episode, Gary talks with Pete Scudder, owner of Scudder Roofing in Marino, CA. Pete talks about how he got his start in the industry at 18 years old and launched his own company at 24. With a family to feed, Pete talks about what it took to get his business off the ground, how he learned to become a strong business leader, and how he successfully scaled his business to a $29M roofing and solar business. Pete has some great advice for listeners and his messages will be powerful for all of...
Jan 02, 2024•32 min•Ep. 69
In this episode, Gary talks with Jon Qualls, President and Co-Owner of Bo Lacey Construction. Jon talks about how he forged a close friendship with his business partner, Kevin Lacey, after they played football together in college. He talks about how their first 3 years in business were focused on storms and they came close to going out of business in 2015. Jon explains how they learned about CCN while attending a CertainTeed event and they became members. By 2018 they became more active in CCN b...
Oct 31, 2023•30 min•Ep. 68
In this episode, Gary talks with Steve Rennekamp, founder and CEO of Energy Swing Windows and Doors. Steve has a fascinating background. He talks about how he earned an Engineering degree and was recruited right out of school to work for Alcoa. He spent 33 years at the company in various roles and truly learned many functional areas of business during those Alcoa years. He talks about how he and his son, Donny, started Energy Swing from nothing and how they struggled for a while until the busine...
Oct 24, 2023•34 min•Ep. 67
In this episode, Gary talks with Jeff Nunham, Owner and CEO of Precision Roofing Services. Jeff talks about how he started his roofing company in 2001 and it took him 14 years to surpass $1 million in revenue in 2015. As he sharpened his business skills and surrounded himself with the right talent, he was able to 11X his revenue in 8 years. Jeff now has his sights on $20M in revenue, while continuing to generate strong net profits. It is interesting to hear Jeff talking about his thirst for know...
Oct 17, 2023•29 min•Ep. 66
In this episode, Gary talks with Jaron Rice, founder and CEO of Magothy Payments. Jaron talks about how he got into the payments industry specifically focusing on home improvement and home services contractors. He then gets into “effective rates” and how to properly calculate them. Jaron discusses funding delays and the ways to avoid them. The conversation then moves to chargebacks, how long a contractor is liable, some things contractors can do to prevent a chargeback from happening in the firs...
Oct 10, 2023•40 min•Ep. 65
In this episode, Gary talks with Anson Martin, the founder and CEO of Valley Roofing and Exteriors based in Harrisonburg, VA. Anson talks about how he only has an 8th-grade education and started working for a builder when he was 17 years old. He was drawn to roofing and favored that trade over all other trades within the construction umbrella. Anson decided at 21 that he wanted to start his own roofing company; his focus from day one was servant leadership. He was 100% committed to pleasing his ...
Oct 03, 2023•33 min
In this episode, Gary talks with Danielle Jones, General Manager of Hutcherson Construction in Michigan. Danielle shares the Hutcherson Construction story and speaks about their rapid growth over the past several years. She discusses the importance of implementing formal systems and processes and how that transformed their company. With a longtime background in Human Resources and specifically recruiting and retaining top people, Danielle wrote a book called, “Recruiting a Winning Team: Strategi...
Sep 26, 2023•28 min•Ep. 63
In this episode, Gary talks with Derrik Shakespear, Chief Revenue Officer for BusyBusy, a technology company focused on improving profitability for home improvement contractors. Derrik talks about the company’s founder who owns 5 contracting companies and how his passion for technology, math, and data led him to start BusyBusy to solve job site challenges with payroll and job costing. He discusses the gaps in the areas of time-tracking and job costing on-site and how embracing technology to addr...
Sep 05, 2023•46 min•Ep. 62
In this episode, Gary talks with Greg Bloom, Vice President of National Strategic Accounts for Beacon Building Products. Greg talks about the state of the building material distribution industry, how it was impacted during the pandemic, and how it has fared post-pandemic. Greg also discusses the consolidation in the distribution space and his view of consolidation going forward. He also discusses the impact of Private Equity on distribution and contractors. Finally, Greg talks about the impact t...
Aug 22, 2023•34 min
In this episode, Gary talks with Megan Beattie, an industry veteran who specializes in face-to-face marketing. Megan discusses the various ways contractors are effectively engaging in face-to-face marketing and she zeroes in on 4 of the common ways contractors can effectively engage in this type of marketing. Megan also talks about the importance of creating a lead mix from multiple sources and how face-to-face marketing offers a lead source where a contractor can exercise more control of their ...
Aug 15, 2023•44 min
In this episode, Gary speaks with Peter Ingraham, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Ingage. Peter and Gary talk about the initiative Ingage and CCN have been building out together, by marrying CCN’s proprietary 5P Sales Process with Ingage’s proprietary presentation and analytics software. The result is a highly professional presentation that sales reps can learn and follow to drive up close rates and ticket value. The back-end analytics helps sales managers provide meaningful feedback to re...
Aug 08, 2023•36 min•Ep. 59
In this episode, Gary talks with Jonathan Weinberg, the Founder and CEO of Builder Prime. Jonathan talks about how he was introduced to the home improvement contracting industry and how he initially set out to use his Computer Science degrees to create tech software that supported contractors with solutions for estimation and production, however, he ended up infusing that into a broad-based CRM solution with all-in-one capabilities that offer contractors an option for consolidating multiple tech...
Aug 01, 2023•34 min•Ep. 58
