The Level 10 Contractor Daily Podcast

Today's episode is an old ·Monopolize Your Marketplace· webinar Rich did where he goes through some of the most important concepts found in an outstanding book called ·The Plain English Approach to Business Writing· by Edward P. Bailey

I know today's podcast title might sound like some kind of MMA or heavyweight fight… but for good reason! Rich is going to walk you step by step through the TV buy he made on behalf of one of his new clients in Sacramento… Hence, Smackdown in Sac-Town! Last week on episode 222 he showed you how he took the radio buy from $628,000 down to just $350,000… AND got better schedules AND added 2 new stations just for fun… Today he's going to go station by station and talk about how he took a bloated buy that was about 85% body fat and…. For less money… created a lean, mean, TV fighting machine. This isn't theory; this is an after action report on what he actually DID.

Today's podcast is for all you roofers out there… and hey, even if you're not a roofer, listen to this anyway because the concept Rich is going to discuss is pretty darn cool. He's going to borrow the strategy of club memberships that is pretty common in the HVAC world, and bring it over into the world of roofers. Why would he do such a thing? Well… in talking to one of his clients, he realized that if executed properly, a roofer could promise a client that they would NEVER have to pay for a major roof repair or replacement again, EVER… which if you think about it, is a pretty strong value proposition. The key question, then, is "how do you execute it properly?"

It's Monday… which means we're ready to rock and roll with a brand new installment of our 5 Ways to Monday series… and today, we're talking about hyper local marketing. The idea here is to double and triple down on marketing for a relatively small, potentially lucrative geographic area.

Welcome to another Sunday edition of the Level 10 Contractor Daily Podcast; As usual, today's Sunday podcast is going to focus on topics in the realm of self improvement and spirituality. Now you might be wondering about the title today… about God loving the druggies. RIch is going to tell you a story about a guy named Zak who thought that God was looking out for him… but as it turns out, God was actually using him to look out for somebody else.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we take you step by step through what Facebook is, what it does, and different ways you can use it. Rich calls it the Swiss Army Knife of social media. Let's make sure you use every tool it offers.

Rich explains "identity" — the art of communicating what makes your business genuinely different. Using memorable stories about a hidden taco stand and a hotel showerhead, he shows contractors how to replace empty platitudes with specific, vivid language that resonates with customers. This is part one of a three-part series on building marketing that actually works.

Rich is going to talk about a topic that's near and dear to his heart… but that hasn't really gotten much air time on this podcast. And that topic is INNOVATION. RIch has come up with about 15 or 20 different what he calls Innovation Formulas…. Which are practical ways to get your brain started thinking in different directions that it's used to going. Today's episode is the most fundamental, foundational innovation formula of all, and it's called The Magic Wand. Basically, if you could put a magic wand in your customer's hand, and she could change anything she wanted to about you company or your industry, what would she change? Rich will go through several examples for several industries… including yours.

It's another Throwback Thursday, and we're going to dip into the archives for one Rich's old "Monopolize Your Marketplace" Remodeler's Marketing Essentials Webinars… this one on the topic of not just Proximity Marketing… but what Rich calls "Super Robust Proximity Marketing." What's the difference? Well…. Regular proximity marketing calls for sending out a few postcards to the neighbors of your customers. Super Robust Proximity Marketing eats postcards for breakfast. It's a lot more involved, a lot more powerful…. And a lot more effective. Get all the details from Rich, right now.

How's your business doing… financially? I don't mean "Are you having a great sales year?"... I mean, when you dig down into the nitty gritty numbers, is it healthy? Are you doing as well as you should? Are you doing as well as you THINK you are? This podcast is all about getting into your numbers. In this episode, Rich interviews Gary Cohen, Vice President of Certified Contractors Network; They are going to do a deep dive into what kinds of things you should be looking at and measuring to make sure everything is working as well as it should. You'll hear a lot about KPI's… key performance indicators… and something called "the virtuous cycle." This is not the most fun and entertaining episode you're ever going to hear–but it just might be one of the most important for the overall health of your business

It's Monday, which means it's time for the latest installment of our 5 Ways to Monday series… and today, Rich goes back to his roots and talks about copywriting–writing great headlines, to be specific. The headline is the "ad for the ad" so to speak, and is therefore the most important element in any marketing you could write. Rich has a little 5 minute rant on the importance of headlines to start us off… then he talks about headline starters, the headline bank, something he calls "John Smith Headlines," then aggregating headlines, and creating your own headline vault. That's a lot of headlines!

Remember the old TV commercials for AT&T back in the day-- "Reach out, reach out and touch someone?" Well that's the theme of today's podcast. We're reaching into the archives today… this comes from a webinar Rich did back in 2010 in what he then called his "Personal Edge" series… geared then on personal development topics. You'll hear Rich, in his trademark storytelling style, discuss the importance of getting out of your comfort zone to get to know people… so that you can have an impact on their lives… and vice versa.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we review core concepts of Level 10's marketing strategy. This is a great refresher if you've been listening to the podcast, absolutely necessary if you're new to Level 10, and a perfect bookmark podcast you can return to anytime you need the reminder.

Today's podcast is the continuation of last Friday's episode where Rich talked about the Savannah Bananas baseball team. This episode focuses on things you can do to maximize innovation in your company so that you GET NOTICED!

Today's podcast is the continuation of last Friday's episode where Rich talked about the Savannah Bananas baseball team. This episode focuses on things you can do to maximize innovation in your company so that you GET NOTICED!

Today is the day we are going to finally conclude our 5-part Throwback Thursday series on ·The 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.· If you missed any of the previous 4 parts, just go back to each of the last 4 Thursdays and look them up! So far we·ve covered

Okay, this episode has a pretty inflammatory title… something about Rich wanting to punch some lady in the face. Before you get too upset, just know a couple of things: One: Rich would never actually punch a lady--or anybody for that matter--in the face. Two: the story has a happy ending, and the punchworthy Christine Cook actually ends up getting complimented very nicely. Three: This is a story about the power of repetition in advertising… ready?

In this episode, Rich breaks down the power of rehash programs—how to revive dead leads and turn missed opportunities into booked jobs. Learn practical strategies to systematically follow up, re-engage prospects, and unlock hidden revenue already sitting in your pipeline. Stop chasing new leads and start maximizing the ones you already earned.

Most contractors sit around hoping for referrals like they're finding $20 in an old jacket. That's not a strategy — that's luck. In this video, Rich breaks down 5 tactical ways to engineer referrals on demand: identity, brand ambassadors, consistent mailings, texting, and making your customer experience shareable. Stop hoping. Start engineering. Watch now.

It's Sunday, so as you might expect, Rich is going to turn his attention today to matters of Personal Development. And today's topic is adversity. This is an old recording dating back to the last week of 2009, right before the decade flipped over to the 2010s. Rich reflects on the preceding decade--and it was a hard one on him… as in… really hard. His business crashed in 2004, and he spent the next 6 years digging out of the rubble. He shares his insights and wisdom in a way only Rich can.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we talk about selling yourself BEFORE you ever arrive at the house for your sales meeting. Don't leave all the work to your salesperson at the last minute; convince prospects that you are the superior company with your marketing. Educate them why you are the best with your website and blogs and mailers and pay-per-click ads, and you won't have to fight an uphill battle on their home turf. Besides, if you pre-position yourself as the only good choice, you will not run into the dreaded sticker shock. In fact, you'll be able to raise prices without a hint of blowback. Why? Because prospects will understand exactly what you are worth.

We're going to go bananas! Savannah Bananas, that is! What's a Savannah Banana? Well, it's the most innovative minor league baseball team in the world, that's what. And Rich is here today to introduce you to them, and get your innovative mind churning out some innovative ideas for your company.

This is part 4 of our TBT series on "The 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes." Over the last 3 weeks, we covered the first three mistakes. The FOURTH marketing mistake everyone makes is called "Ignoring future buyers." The fact is, most marketing only focuses on NOW buyers, and completely ignores those who are just considering their options.  Today Rich will show you the glorious world of "information offers" and how to capture those future buyers… and nurture them along until they're ready to buy.

What do Shaquille O'Neal, Dell Computers, and a fancy pants private equity firm full of Harvard MBAs have to do with each other? Find out as Rich shares some fun stories about times when trying to get everyone on the same page and make everyone happy actually HURT productivity and ruined a good thing that they had going. If you want to keep your marketing from crashing and burning and turning into a pile of platitudinal garbage, pay close attention!

On this episode we are going to talk about your website… and specifically, what has to happen in the first 8 seconds of a visitor landing on your site to make sure that they stay there, get interested in what you have to day, and decide to give you a shot.There are 3 major hurdles people have to get over… the first one in the first HALF second… the second hurdle in the next three seconds after that… and the third hurdle in 8 seconds. If your web visitors trip and fail to get over any of those three hurdles… well, you're toast!

It's time for the next installment in our "5 Ways to Monday" series, and this round, Rich tackles bad online reviews. They're gonna happen--so you'd better have a plan to deal with them. What kind of plan? So glad you asked--that's what we're here to discuss.

Thanks for joining us on the Sunday podcast; the one time per week when Rich turns his attention to topics having to do with either personal development or spiritual topics. This episode is a little bit of both.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we cover the topic of innovation. Let's face it: if you are not innovating your business, then you're stagnating. Worse, your competition might be doing the hard work you're avoiding which means they'll outshine you. Innovation has always been a big part of what Rich teaches and preaches about… and he's kind of cracked the code. We will hear a couple of Rich's 20 different innovation formulas–that's right, 20 tricks to stand above the rest. Plus Rich discusses two of the greatest innovators he's encountered.

As you can see from the title, Rich is going to be talking about advanced mailing strategies today. Think about it this way: What if you could identify the kind of people that have bought from you in the past, and then when you execute direct mail campaigns, ONLY send mail to the people that are most like your best customers? That's what PRIZM code mailing is all about, and Rich is going to tell you all about it on today's episode. If you do any volume of direct mail, this will be well worth your time to listen.

This TBT episode is a continuation of the series we started LAST week, which is part of the 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes CD program. If you missed either of those two episodes, you can go back and listen to podcasts number 46 and 53, where we covered Mistake #1, Average Joe, and Mistake #2, The Platitude Trap, respectively. In this installment, we move on to Mistake #3, which is called "Right Message, Wrong Time." Rich is going to teach you a concept called The Educational Spectrum… and three categories of hot buttons. All of this to help you make sure you're saying the right things WHEN your prospects are ready to hear it.

Most contractors obsess over their competition. Rich argues that's a mistake. In this episode, he reveals why the top home service companies · like Service Champions · ignore their competitors entirely and focus 100% on the customer experience instead.

Building an outstanding company that promises a lot and delivers even more… and makes the jump to $10MM+, it all starts with mindset, and the mindset Rich wants to share with you today has to do with demanding excellence and casting out fear. Demanding excellence is something that Level 10 Leaders should be consciously baking into the culture of the company… and on the podcast, Rich will give you several examples of how that looks in practice. Then he shifts gears and talks about the biggest hindrance to excellence, which is almost always fear-based. This is a short message, but there is a ton packed in here.

We're talking about the lowly yard sign! Can it bring in sales and leads?

It's Sunday, and as you probably know, Rich likes to turn his attention away from Marketing and focus on topics relating to personal development and spirituality. On today's podcast Rich gets inspired by his friend Dave to work to make his marriage even better… and learns valuable lessons about how Agape love can make your family stronger. This is a great story… please listen all the way to the end.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we cover a core tenet in the success of Level 10 marketing, namely Education. Customers want to make the best buying decision. If you help them do that–not just sell them on why to buy from you–but really help them understand the right questions to ask and everything they actually need to know before remodeling their kitchen of refitting the bath for example, they will see you as the font of knowledge and 9 times out of 10, they select your business. Let's dive in and learn how to become a go-to source for prospects and customers.

I'm telling you right up front, this is a really different episode of the podcast. First, I want you to know that this podcast is being aired with the permission of the person Rich is talking to on the call. She was hired by a roofing company to help them create structure in what has historically been a chaotic company… but as you'll hear, her real problem is battling a toxic corporate culture that's caused by one of the owners. This episode is super interesting all by itself...but wait until you hear Rich take off his marketing jacket and put on his psychiatrist's coat… and starts to correctly guess and anticipate the problems that are being caused. How does Rich know? Turns out he's lived this situation in his own company… years ago… and he tells some pretty personal stories. Then he gives some of the most direct, in-your-face, take-this-job-and-shove-it advice I think I've ever heard him give. This podcast is fascinating on 11 different levels.

This TBT episode is a continuation of the series we started LAST week, which is part of the 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes CD program. Our installment today will cover Mistake #2, which is The Platitude Trap. Some of what you're going to learn today is AWESOME stuff that, quite frankly, just isn't talked about that much any more at Level 10 Contractor anymore--but maybe it should be. You're going to hear about Alpha, Beta, and Reticular Activator--all brain functions that will help you understand how to get people's attention in marketing. You'll hear about headlines--which ones work, and which ones are guaranteed to drain your savings, jeopardize your retirement, and squash your quest for financial independence.

Okay, so this is kind of a weird podcast. Rich took a phone call from a contractor who was "looking for some marketing help," and started working through the guy's situation. Here's the funny thing… the guy didn't realize that all he had to do to get more results was to pour more gasoline on the fire! Rich walks him through a couple of analogies and helps him get some perspective on his situation. The podcast is weird because halfway through the conversation, Rich realized that this was podcast gold, and pushed the record button on his phone so the Level 10 Listening audience could hear and share this experience. You're gonna love what you hear on this one.

This podcast might make your head explode. Rich saw an ad for a residential real estate company who was offering to pay homeowners cash money RIGHT NOW… in exchange for an agreement to let that company list their home whenever they decide to sell in the future… with no other strings attached. Just "Here's a check, let us know when you're ready to sell, whether that's in a year, 10 years, or 30 years." And that got Rich to thinking… and you know sometimes you just can't get an idea out of your head? Rich figured out some creative ways to utilize similar concepts for remodeling and home services companies. The real question is: How much would it be worth to you right now to lock in guaranteed future buyers. Let's join Rich as he explores answers to that question.

Rich reframes failure as a feature, not a flaw. Drawing on 30+ years in contractor marketing, he outlines five strategies for building failure tolerance into your system — from pricing for experimentation to post-mortems and execution discipline — so you can outlast competitors and find what actually works.

Happy Easter! It's Sunday, and as you probably know, Rich likes to turn his attention away from Marketing and focus on topics relating to personal development and spirituality. And with today being Easter and all… well, you're going to get a 45 minute dose of spirituality today. The message just might change the way you feel about, well, God… and Easter.  

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we cover branding. What's that you say? You already are the master of branding? Or you're too small for branding? Nonsense, on both accounts! Branding is more than your name or your logo or the bright color you wrap your service trucks in. Your brand is your promise. In Level 10 parlance, it is your Identity. It's what sets you apart and makes your company superior to the competition… and you better be sharing it in every piece of your marketing.

In this session from the GAF WealthBuilder event, Rich breaks down how roofers can win in 2026 using websites and SEO. Using a fishing analogy, Rich explains that failed SEO isn't proof the strategy doesn't work—it's proof you had the wrong setup. He walks through what a winning website looks like: a 40-page core site with identity content, geo keyword architecture, and AI-optimized pages, backed by ongoing SEO that compounds over time. Rich also shares how AI has cut his agency's website pricing from $15–20K down to $5K while doubling the speed of results. If you're doing $2M or more and not building a permanent lead faucet, Rich has some thoughts on that too.

It's Throwback Thursday, and today kicks off a five-part series featuring an audio CD program Rich published called "The 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes… And How To Overcome Them All." Originally 2½ hours, it's broken into smaller segments over the next 5 Thursdays. Today covers the Introduction—where Rich teaches that marketing fundamentals never change, but tactics must evolve to break from the status quo—featuring lessons from Vince Lombardi and Dick Fosbury on how their sports legacies apply to marketing. Then it's on to Marketing Mistake #1: Average Joe, diving into INNOVATION with a thought-provoking question: What if you had to market a brand new Toyota Camry that gets 300 miles per gallon?

Why are your deals falling apart after a great sales visit? Rich reveals the real culprit — it's not bad timing or budget, it's expectation gaps. When homeowners are blindsided by a price they never saw coming, they're mentally checked out before you finish the pitch. Rich breaks down seven proven strategies to precondition price, build identity, and eliminate sticker shock before your salesperson ever knocks on the door.

Really great stuff… the Psychology or Marketing, Part 2. If you missed LAST Thursday, by all means, go back and look it up… it was the Psychology of Marketing, Part 1. This time around, Rich covers the topics of  Accelerated Discontentment… which is 100% an absolute must listen. Then he'll talk about frame of reference conditioning, logic vs. emotion, something he calls "don't talk to strangers," and finally "Anticipated reaction." Five principles in all… you're going to love this episode!

Rich is going to talk about credibility–not how to get it, but how to project it to the marketplace at large, and to your prospects in particular. He'll cover things like writing a book, hosting a podcast, participating on radio and TV shows–and more. If you're ready to LEVEL UP, this will be good information for you!

Thanks for joining us for the Sunday podcast, where RIch turns his attention to topics of personal development and spirituality… and today, we're staying in the territory of personal development. Rich is going to share a fun story about a time when he lost a 6-mile footrace against a teenager… and learned a lesson that your conscious brain is not nearly in charge of things as you think it is. Nope--that subconscious has quite a bit to say when it comes to how well you actually perform… and just realizing this fact can be very helpful.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. Marketing is like building a case in court. Your product or service is on trial… your customers are the jury… and you're the attorney in charge… and it's a life or death sentence on the line. You can't just throw out a bunch of platitudes, you have to build the case. And that's what this week's showcase is all about.

Friday's topic is one of those things that seems little and unimportant… but can have a major impact on your business depending on how well you execute. I'm talking about how you handle prospects on the phone when the first call in… and specifically how you handle their objections. Rich talks with person-to-person marketing expert Tony Hoty about how to overcome lazy phone habits and set more appointments.