Episode 13: Leading A Professional Building Company With Clint Best

In episode 13 of the Professional Builders Secrets podcast, our host, Bosco Anthony is joined by one of the executive business coaches at APB, Clint Best. Throughout this episode, Clint shares the critical steps to becoming a professional builder.

Clint joined the team in January 2021 when APB acquired his coaching company. Clint has over 19 years of experience in business and 18 years of guiding business owners. During this time, Clint studied, practiced, and learned how important self-awareness and personal responsibility are in getting the results people want to achieve in business and their lives. 

Clint believes that this mindset, coupled with simplifying business fundamentals and developing new habits, will make the difference between life on a treadmill and the life you really want and deserve.

In this episode, Clint reveals how to turn a building company into a leading brand, the key character traits of a professional leader, the most common blind spots in a building company and so much more. 

Tune in to the full episode now to hear everything you need to know about becoming a professional leader in your building company from one of our top executive business coaches. 

Clint Best - Executive Coach at APB 

Clint was trained and certified by the world’s largest business coaching team and was eventually named the Canadian Coach of the Year in 2006, before leaving to form Kaizen Business Development in 2007. He has been successfully coaching business owners in Canada and the United States for 18 years. 

Connect with Clint

 

Timeline

1:11 Clint’s background.

4:26 What Clint loves about coaching and mentoring. 

7:50 The struggles Clint sees in the construction industry.

9:55 How to turn your building company into a leading brand.

11:38 Critical steps to becoming a professional builder. 

14:12 The key character traits of a professional leader. 

20:19 What the construction industry is evolving into.

23:52 The most common blind spots in your building company.

26:15 The most important habits you need to be a successful leader. 

28:20 Clint’s critical advice for becoming a professional builder.

 

Links, Resources & More

APB Website
APB on Instagram
APB on Facebook
APB on YouTube

Join the Professional Builders Secrets Facebook group for builders & connect with professional builders world-wide.

Bosco Anthony:

Hello and welcome to the Professional Builders Secrets podcast, a podcast by the Association of Professional Builders (APB) for building company owners, general managers, VPs and emerging leaders. Here, we discuss all things running a professional building company, from sales processes, financials, operations and marketing.

Bosco Anthony:

Hello and welcome. Today I'm joined by Clint Best, Executive Business Coach for APB based out of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Clint, welcome. Thank you for being here.

Clint Best:

Thank you, Bosco. It's my pleasure. It’s good to be here with you today.

Bosco Anthony:

You represent the North American contingent for APB. Tell us a little bit about you and your background. Take me through a snapshot of what you do.

Clint Best:

I've been coaching for nearly 20 years now. Prior to that, I was principally in large scale retail management, operations management. I started out with a large department store in Canada here – you'll recognise the Hudson's Bay Company, one of our oldest North American businesses, as a matter of fact. That led to a stint with a large duty-free company in Hong Kong. I had the good fortune to work in Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, San Francisco and New York. 

Clint Best:

I moved around a lot, which was good at the time, but I'm glad that's behind me now. But it gave me a lot of experience in different cultures, working with, as you can imagine, many different people. When you're working in an organisation like that and you're in a general management operations role, you deal with a lot of team issues and you move around a lot of different teams. In hindsight, it was never planned that way, but it was a great way to learn about business. You're wearing all the hats, but you've got great support and systems in a larger corporation.

Bosco Anthony:

What compelled you to join APB?

Clint Best:

Good question. Well, I've always loved coaching. I started out as a generalist, then I moved into a niche. I transformed my business into a coaching business that assisted mainly contractors. Best Contractor was the name of the program – Best Contractor Coach. I was working mainly with not just builders, but other types of contractors. 

Clint Best:

In that effort, I came across APB. Over time, Russ and I got to talking, and long story short, he ended up acquiring my company. I came on board. To answer your question, the reason I was compelled to join APB was because I knew the mission I was on, and I could see the work that they had been doing in the same space. I thought they were doing such a great job, and I had an insight into how challenging it is to build the kind of back-end training platform that APB has, to help guide builders, because it's a combination of having the right content and keeping it simple and implementable.

Clint Best:

I could see that; it was the first thing that caught my eye. And, of course, as I got involved with Russ, Sky, Andy and the rest of the team, I fell in love with them as well. And it's been a great marriage ever since.

Bosco Anthony:

Sounds like it. I think you and I have a common background because we both are from Canada. Well, I was from Canada before I moved to Australia. So, I was very excited to interview you and talk to a fellow Canuck, but let's get into a little bit about the work you do. You coach, you're mentoring, you're working with builders, owners and leaders. What do you love about the work you do?

Clint Best:

I suppose from a personal perspective, I'm a big learner. I love to learn; I love business. I love people. I'm a big student of psychology. I enjoy understanding how people tick. I also enjoy business and entrepreneurship. So personally, I get a lot of gratification from the coaching, from what I do in that area. But I suppose when I think about the clients I work with, what really gives me the juice is those aha moments, when somebody connects the dots and they see something, maybe reveal a blind spot, or get a greater understanding of something that's important to them. 

Clint Best:

When you're working with a business owner, whether it be in the construction world or anywhere else, and you can affect positive change, in fact, transformational change – not just a change in something that you're doing, but a change in the way that you're thinking or looking at something – obviously that's going to lead to good things. When you see the trickle-down effect that happens within the company and in their lives with their family, it’s quite profound.

Bosco Anthony:

You talk about transformation. How do you transform your clients to design professional building companies?

Clint Best:

That's a loaded question. Well, first of all, I don't transform them, they transform themselves, obviously. I'm sure you know that, but I see myself as a guide and, of course, APB has a really robust system of training on the back end, which really does a lot of the heavy lifting for me, because then I can just focus with my clients in our private mentoring sessions, on what's getting in their way, and speaking strategically, brainstorming strategically with them, without having to explain all the bits and pieces, and get down to a granular level. They can do that in the training.

Clint Best:

The combination of those two things is what really helps them design. We follow a format, we've got a program, we've got a recipe to help people get clear on their strategy and break down all the pieces and focus on improving their weaknesses and building on their strengths. It's the combination of having that back-end training, and also being a good guide, being a good listener, and helping them fill in some of the gaps with some of my education and experience. Mentoring is about sharing your experience. Training is about teaching, of course, and coaching is about helping people draw out what's already there and improve their performance in that way.

Bosco Anthony:

Sounds like you're applying both your experience and the framework of this amazing content, and fusing it together as well in your role.

Clint Best:

Oh, absolutely. Business principles don't change that much. In fact, I often say business is simple. It's people that complicate things. We get in our own way. So yeah, absolutely.

Bosco Anthony:

What are some of the pain points that you would encounter with the builders you're working with? I'm sure with having different types of builders from different walks of life, and different parts of the world, I'm sure some problems are different, but I'm sure some problems also stay the same.

Clint Best:

There are very common pain points regardless of what kind of business you're in. But I would say specifically in the construction industry, not having enough quality leads, quality opportunities, not having a good sales process to run those opportunities through, not having good systems or the right people in the business, which can really tax a builder's time, not understanding their financials or how to price properly. I think those are huge areas that we start off with right away. Getting them set up with a format where they can understand what's going on in their business and what the numbers are telling them.

Clint Best:

On the business side, I think those things are common: marketing sales, operations systems, financials, and then on the personal side, just lack of confidence in what they're doing or in their abilities. Most builders have never gone to business school. They've pieced things together or taken them from somebody else quite often, somebody else who didn't really know what they were doing. So bad habits transfer quickly. And then of course, I guess time would be the other pain point. All those things contribute to pressures on your time, and when your time gets taxed, your energy gets taxed. Over time it's like boiling a frog; that can really wear you down. So, I think those are some of the bigger pain points that I've experienced.

Bosco Anthony:

One of the visions for APB is to help builders become professional building companies. Let's sway the conversation into leadership. I'm trying to think about some of these common challenges that builders may face when it comes to leading a professional building company. What comes in the way, or what are some of the obstacles that you have to overcome in order to see your brand turn into a professional building brand?

Clint Best:

That's a great question, Bosco. Yeah, I suppose it all starts with vision. Just having a strong vision for where you're going. A lot of people get confused by that concept of vision, but, in my mind, it's just quite simply a picture in your mind of where you want to go. Then you start adding detail to that mindset, just having the right mindset of believing that you can learn, and you can adapt as required to really hit your goals.

Clint Best:

So that mindset and the idea that you need a growth mindset versus fixed a mindset, that sort of idea that Carol Dweck wrote about in her famous book, Mindset. Emotions are huge – emotional intelligence. That's where a sounding board can be hugely beneficial because who does a business owner talk to about their leadership skills? Someone who can give feedback. I think the final thing that I would put in that list is communication, which involves all of those things: the mindset, the emotions, the clarity on your direction, just the communication, good communication skills, having a good communication rhythm within your company and being consistent with that.

Bosco Anthony:

Put your coaching hat on for a second here and take me through the critical steps that you would need to work with a building owner, or building director, to design these critical steps for taking someone through, and designing a professional building company. What are some of the steps that you would want to have them enforce?

Clint Best:

Obviously, the strategic direction is where you start. What are you trying to build here? What kind of a market or a niche do you want to serve? What do you want to specialise in? That would be a really important starting point, just getting some clarity, so you can narrow what it is that you have to deal with.

Clint Best:

Then of course, starting to build an organisation that can deliver that with the roles and responsibilities distributed throughout an organisation chart. And of course, some of those bigger systems, developing those bigger systems, and you need customers, of course. That's the very first thing you need to start growing a company. So, pricing properly, getting your marketing messaging refined. Again, we talked about the sales process. I mentioned earlier that just having an efficient process that doesn't compromise your time in a way that's unhealthy for the company – those bigger pieces. And of course, we always talk about leadership as being the glue that holds all those things together, which I think makes sense.

Bosco Anthony:

So, you're talking about all these different things like systems, the sales process, the mindset and the vision. Would you say that time management, having resources or budget or people, are these some of the hurdles that you would face trying to convert your business into a professional building company? It sounds like there's a lot of work here.

Clint Best:

Yeah. Time management is critical and of course you can't manage time. You can only manage the activities that you put in your time. So, it's really about prioritising the things that you're putting in your time and understanding the sequence that you need to prioritise things in.

Clint Best:

Often, building a company can be kind of a ratcheting effort, where you ratchet one thing up, and then the other thing is out of balance. You got to run over there and make an improvement over there. So just understanding how to navigate that is important, but really maintaining focus. Focus and consistency are two really important elements in building anything. Does that make sense?

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, that does. I think the focus is what keeps people disciplined, is what I'm getting from this conversation. Tell me a little bit about the character traits of a professional building company and the leader behind that professional building company.

Clint Best:

To me, that's what leadership is all about – character traits, because every character trait that comes along brings something important to the table.

Clint Best:

I think I've always believed that the three top character traits we need to accomplish anything are personal responsibility, being accountable for results, and actions and decisions. And of course, the ability to take ownership of what you're doing, really have a sense of ownership, and to be able to bring people into that shared effort that you're creating, or getting people rallied around some shared goals.

Clint Best:

One of the exercises that we do when we bring a new client on board into our program is do a bit of a survey on those strengths and weaknesses, which usually show up in some kind of a character trait. And just to bring awareness around setting boundaries, often the overuse of a strength can become a weakness if you're not aware of it. So, I think awareness is a huge leadership trait, just being aware of how you're coming across to people, how you're showing up in the world and how those things are really affecting your results.

Bosco Anthony:

Take me through the measurement process. As a coach, you're probably looking at some form of critical data or KPIs or metrics, as well. Where do you go as a coach, or with the companies, or the leaders that you work with, where do they go to identify that they're converting their brand into a successful professional building company? Where does that show up in the metric scale?

Clint Best:

When you look at the big picture as a company, the way that you know you're making progress is by hitting milestones that you've set. So, you're creating the conditions for your own success. Those conditions might involve putting systems in place, a good financial management system, a good sales process, a good automated marketing system and a good team building system within your business. Within that, there are ways to measure those things, and of course that's where you get down to more data-driven hard numbers.

Clint Best:

And of course, we have a fairly robust system of measuring the progress of a building company, so financial measurements, most importantly. Because whatever you do in your company is going to show up in your financial KPIs. It's either going to show up in your margin or it's going to show up in the number of contracts you're getting or converting. It's going to show up in the leads that you're getting.

Clint Best:

So, we pull that together in a dashboard, and that's a big part of how I work with clients. Not just having fluffy conversations about some of the challenges going on in the business, but really being able to pinpoint where the business needs attention and when it needs attention. As you probably know, growth doesn't happen in a straight line. It happens in what we call an S curve or a sigmoid curve, where you have to grow and plateau, grow and plateau, like going up a flight of stairs. You make changes, and then you've got to slow down and let those changes take hold. Once they have, then you can continue to scale up in kind of a stepping stone fashion.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, you talked about the grow and plateau, is there a long period of plateau? What's an average period when you grow and then you've got to scale and then stay at that stagnancy before you see the next level of growth. Is there a common timeline?

Clint Best:

As you know, businesses operate in quarters, typically, so the answer to your question, in my opinion, would be the quarterly. Being able to set some quarterly targets and drive those with some well placed changes, and then reassess every 90 days.

Bosco Anthony:

What are the business leaders, or business owners looking to you for support them with? And when it comes to leading a professional building company, what are some of those core needs that you have to support them with?

Clint Best:

A big part of it is having a sounding board. Just having somebody who's plugged into your business, understands what's going on, who's plugged into the industry, so has a greater understanding of what's going on in the industry in general. But also somebody who you're meeting with regularly, who you can use as sounding board, you can bounce ideas off, get some validation from. People will ask, “Are we doing this right? Does this make sense?” There's a lot of that.

Clint Best:

Accountability is a huge need. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, who have planned to do something and never quite get around to it. So, when you have a system set up where you get regular accountability, that in itself is massive. We talk about all the different protocols in a business, whether it be HR, or marketing, or sales, or leadership, or even the construction process itself, continuous improvements, the ability to make continuous improvements in those areas. I always tell people they don’t need to try to hit home runs every time. Let's just make incremental progress and keep measuring our results. Happiness comes from making progress, not being perfect.

Bosco Anthony:

Clint, what do you believe is the state of the residential construction industry evolving to? We're now getting into the landscape of the industry and I'd love to get your insight on this.

Clint Best:

What's it evolving to? As you know, our mission is to improve the industry for both builders and consumers. So, I like to think it's evolving in that direction, and that's really what we're here to help achieve. It's a huge industry, and like the auto making industry, a lot of other industries feed into this one. So, in that way, it's a really important industry, and it's the backbone of a lot of economies. Speaking in terms of North America, as the population grows, as immigration brings more people into North America, they need housing, and they need quality work.

Clint Best:

I think it would be fair to say that at times the construction industry has been starving for good leadership. I think as that leadership comes into place and good business practices, good habits, good skills and good companies follow, the product and service that you're able to deliver all improve. This of course eliminates a lot of waste, because there can be a huge amount of waste both in terms of time, energy and cost in this industry, if it's not managed properly. I think it's growing in terms of its evolution. I think it's getting better. I think it's going to be more important to develop your business skills in this industry than ever before, because the smart builders out there are reaching out and getting that education, getting that guidance, and it's going to become more competitive and the bar's going to be raised.

Bosco Anthony:

So, what you're saying is, that the builders are actually stepping up and showing up, which changes the entire landscape.

Clint Best:

Oh, absolutely.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, Clint, in your illustrious career you've won some accolades yourself. I was reviewing your impressive biography, and you've won an award as Canada's top coach, as well. You must have come through some big discoveries, or you must have uncovered some surprises through your years of coaching. If you had to articulate either a shocking discovery, or something that really surprised you about builders in this industry, specifically in your years of coaching, what would that be?

Clint Best:

That's a big question, Bosco, but a good one. In terms of my own accomplishments in business and in life, it always comes from having some goals, but also focusing on the process and just continuously getting better at that process and being consistent. It's surprises me how many builders get into a building business without understanding the fundamentals of business. I think that was a big surprise early on, but I think the pleasant surprise that goes hand in hand with that is the appetite, the willingness and the ability for most builders to pick up what they need to know and to put that into action and create the kind of results that they got into business for in the first place. Because typically, when I find them, they're not in that place.

Bosco Anthony:

Fair enough. What are some of the common blind spots for any leader out there, let alone a leader of a building company, that they need to be aware of? What's the most common blind spot that you encounter?

Clint Best:

I think the most common blind spot I encounter with the clients I'm working with in the building industry are the financials. I suppose as a business blind spot, it's really the financials, and not really knowing where they're sitting financially as they're growing their company. And that's dangerous, Bosco, because if you don't know where you're at, it's hard to make good decisions. As a business owner, your number one responsibility is to make good decisions. So you need timely, accurate and easy to understand information in order to do that.

Clint Best:

On the personal side, it usually is tied to some kind of a weakness that they have, and how they're showing up in that weakness. Like for instance, they could be just too nice, and so they're willing to drop their price. They think it's something that they need to do. When they start to learn how to handle the price discussion with a customer, and how to orchestrate their system around that, I think there's a big aha moment. They realise, “Wow, this isn't that difficult when you think about it the right way.” Does that make sense?

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, now it does. It does. It sounds like you're probably also involved in seeing a lot of aha moments when they do find out the financials, and sometimes that may even be a rude awakening as well. It sounds like that you have to coach them through that, too.

Clint Best:

Yeah. Typically, they've got a feeling, so it's not a huge surprise to them, but there's a great sense of comfort that comes along with certainty. Not only that, but having somebody along on that journey who can help you not only navigate that, but also give you that pat on the back when you do a good job, which is missing for a lot of business owners.

Bosco Anthony:

Clint, the other question I have for you is around successful habits. A very wise person once said to me that success leaves blueprints. I'm just curious, if you had to deconstruct the DNA of a successful leader in a professional building company, what would some of those habits be for that leader?

Clint Best:

Another great question. I think one of the habits that we teach people right out of the gate is forecasting their business, planning, and targeting their results, and doing that on a regular basis. It's really a skillset that's born from the habit. Forecasting and planning are a habit, as are regular communication with the team: implementing efficient, well placed meetings, or check-ins or huddles within your week. 

Clint Best:

I think the habit of scheduling is huge. Letting your schedule do the heavy work for you, the habit of using technology, the habit of staying abreast of what's going on in the industry, and what some of those new tools and developments in the industry are, so you can take advantage of those. I think those, and not beating yourself up. Some of those personal habits, such as taking time off, scheduling that time off in with intention, spending time with people who are very important to you.

Clint Best:

So really, the things that contribute to a person's integrity, that mind, heart, body and spirit stuff, looking after yourself physically and getting enough rest. All of those things are important, of course, for everyone. But specifically for builders, I think staying on top of your financials, not only your financials, but your other KPIs, continuing to work on your business on a regular basis. Working on your business to me is really defined by developing your people, developing your systems and processes within the business, making the business less reliant on you all the time. I think those are some of the more important habits that lead to that.

Bosco Anthony:

Should those builders who are considering joining APB, or for those builders who are out there who are new to this industry, what critical advice can you give them to help them on their journey to building that professional building company?

Clint Best:

We talked about some of the things, some of the important factors, practical factors, like having a vision and putting the right protocols in place, so having a good structure in your business. I think the advice that I would give somebody who's thinking about joining APB or a program like ours is don't be afraid to reach out for help. It's okay if you don't have all the answers. Look into it, see if it's a good fit for you. So first and foremost, don't be afraid to reach out. Sometimes we need to just have that humility that it takes to admit that we don't have all the answers and we need some help.

Clint Best:

And just being open. I think openness is huge. I was talking to a builder who I worked with yesterday, and he was asking me for some feedback, because he's just come a long way. I think his business is four times larger and probably four times more profitable than it was when we started together. For me, just watching his journey, I’m impressed by just the openness, the openness that he's displayed, always open to trying something new, and doing things a little differently. As we know, if you keep doing the same things over and over, you're going to get the same results. Does that answer your question?

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, it does. I'm going to hit you with a final question, and this is more a Clint question, I guess. Has there been a book or a reference in your career that has really shaped your coaching career? Looking back at the last 20 plus years of coaching, can you think of a pivotal moment, or a coaching moment, or even a book that has helped shape this career?

Clint Best:

I’ll think about that for a second. When I was working in Hong Kong, the regional president gave me a book you might be familiar with called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People [by Stephen Covey]; that was back in 1995, I think. So that's a timeless, timeless book, and I’ve probably read it about five times, and I listened to the audio version over and over because you know, you forget things. You forget things, but those seven habits – I think it's all right there. If you wanted the recipe to success, just develop those seven habits.

Clint Best:

As for a pivotal moment for me in my career, there have been so many of them, Bosco. I think my most recent pivotal moment was coming on with APB. When I got into the coaching industry 20 years ago, Bosco, it was in its infancy, in a way. When you thought about a business coach, you might have thought about someone like an Anthony Robbins, or John Maxwell, or somebody in those days, those thought leaders who had written books and had programs. So, I think the development of the coaching industry, and the path that APB and I are on, to niche into a specific industry and to really have impact on, I think that's been a big milestone for me, and it shows up in the results that my clients get. So I'm pretty happy about that.

Bosco Anthony:

Clint, it sounds like you're living your best life. We really appreciate your time and your energy and insights today. It sounds like you're really passionate about coaching. We look forward to having you come back and share some more coaching insights with us in the future.

Clint Best:

Hey, thanks Bosco. It's been a blast, and I'd love to do that.

Bosco Anthony:

Awesome.

Bosco Anthony:

Thank you for listening. Remember to subscribe to Professional Builders Secrets on your favourite podcast platform, and leave a review. To learn more about how the systems that APB can help you grow your building company, visit associationofprofessionalbuilders.com. See you next time.