May 23, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Janet and Caitlyn sit down with Ryanne Millis, Director of the Home Improvement Division at Brix Recruiting Partners. Ryanne shares expert insights into the recruiting challenges and opportunities facing growing home improvement companies today. From sales managers to production leaders, Brix specializes in finding top-tier talent for management and executive roles—especially when you’ve outgrown job boards and need real results.
This conversation covers:
- Why job boards won’t fill your leadership roles
- How relocation plays into recruiting for home improvement companies
- Common gaps in leadership teams (hint: tech and AI readiness)
- The importance of treating hiring like lead generation
- Real success stories of recruiting done right
Whether you’re a $3M contractor scaling fast or a $30M enterprise expanding into new markets, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways on how to grow smarter—with the right people in the right roles.
Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Don (00:00):
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet (00:31):
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors.
This podcast is brought to youby Fat Cat Strategies.
We are a full service marketingagency based in Raleigh, North
Carolina, and we specialize inhelping home improvement
businesses just like yours growtheir business.
My name is Janet.
I am the founder and managingpartner.
And today I've got CaitlinNoble with me, co-owner of the
(00:51):
business, head of clientservices, and a super special
guest that I'm going to letCaitlin introduce.
We're super excited abouttoday's guest.
Caitlin, tell everybody who youare and then tell everybody who
our guest
Caitlyn (01:02):
is.
Yes.
Like Janet said, I'm Caitlyn.
I am the head of clientservices here at Fat Cat.
And I have been recentlyintroduced to Ryanne Millis of
Bricks Recruiting Partners.
Ryan, we are so excited to haveyou on.
Ryan, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Ryanne (01:16):
Yeah, I know.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And I'm super excited.
I am the director of the homeimprovement division here at
Bricks Recruiting.
And I'm also our East Coastterritory manager.
So we actually have a couple ofdifferent divisions, our home
improvement being our largest,and that's the team that I
oversee.
Caitlyn (01:35):
And that is why you're absolutely on this podcast.
Yes, those
Janet (01:38):
are our only listeners.
Tell us what BRICS does.
Yeah.
Ryanne (01:43):
Yeah, so we recruit specifically for the
construction industry.
And as I mentioned, we do havea couple of different verticals
that have differentspecializations.
So home improvement being ourlargest, we also have building
materials and a roofing thatdoes residential and commercial
mix.
And we recruit at themanagement and executive level.
(02:05):
So that's our specialty.
I would say that we do some ofthe individual contributor roles
as well.
more on the building materialsside with our territory sales
reps and B2B reps.
But really our specialty isgoing to be nationwide
recruiting for the homeimprovement industry at that
management and executive level.
(02:25):
So not the day laborers.
No, not sales reps orinstallers.
I know that is a huge need toget asked that all the time.
And so we do work with clientsto give advice on those types of
roles because obviously likethis is who we're talking to
business owners and people hirefor these all day every day so
(02:46):
we're getting a lot of goodadvice and we know what works
for them so we're always happyto share different tactics but
it's not our specialty rolesthat we recruit for
Caitlyn (02:54):
that's so um niche which i love and i think um
that's something that probablymakes you guys stand out from
other recruiting firms correct
Ryanne (03:05):
Yeah, there are not a lot of firms that specialize in
the home improvement industry,and especially at the level that
we do it at.
So I mean, I on my team havenine other recruiters that are
dedicated just towards homeimprovement.
And we do sponsor a lot ofdifferent industry events.
And usually we're the onlyexclusive recruiter at these
(03:27):
events as well.
And so, yeah, there's just nota lot of people that have such a
niche within this industry,which has really helped us
because we get to know the KPIs.
We know what success looks likein this role.
And so, yeah, it's really aunique industry, but we love it.
Caitlyn (03:45):
That's awesome.
I mean, going a little offscript, we are managing our
clients' websites and ads, etcetera.
And most of our clients do hireconstantly.
They want careers listed ontheir websites and we are
managing those career pages.
So I think it's prettyimportant to know that there are
(04:06):
companies like Bricks outthere.
Yes, you've got to have itlisted on your website, but I
mean- But to have an actualskilled recruiting partner to
help fill those- criticalleadership roles.
Do you guys point people backto a website or are you going
straight?
Like, I'm going to jump intoit.
Yeah.
Do they go straight to yourpoint of contact?
(04:28):
How does it work?
Ryanne (04:30):
Yeah, so a client will reach out with a need, let's say
a sales director, and they'retypically coming to us when they
have used traditional jobboards and are just not getting
the quality applicants or eventhe quantity of applicants that
they're looking for.
And usually the good talent forleadership isn't on the job
boards anyway.
(04:50):
They are at a competitor, doingwell, not looking.
And so it would take somebodylike us to proactively reach
out, tap them on the shoulderand say, hey, I have this great
opportunity.
And whether you're missinggrowth opportunity, better
compensation, benefits, betterwork-life balance, this client
may be able to offer you that.
And you don't even know it'sout there because you're not
(05:12):
really looking.
And it would take somebody tobring that to your attention to
gain your interest.
And so what we do is very muchlike what you could call your
old school headhunting, where anoutbound sales organization.
We're using our network that webuilt over the 13 years of
doing this.
We're sending out messages,calling people, getting them on
(05:34):
the phones, tapping into theirnetworks, screening them.
It's a very time consumingprocess, but we're able to speed
that up due to this is all wedo and have done for 13 years.
So we have that quick access tothat.
And you've
Janet (05:47):
got that industry expertise.
So for a software company onMonday, and a law firm on
Tuesday, it's all in theconstruction home improvement.
You know what you're lookingfor.
100%,
Ryanne (06:01):
yeah.
Janet (06:02):
So I have a follow-up question.
You said you do a nationwidesearch.
I mean, this may be a dumbquestion, but this is why you're
on the podcast.
So our listeners can kind ofbenefit from this conversation
and understand when they get tothe point where they might want
to hire a recruiting companylike let's get into the meat and
potatoes of how it works.
(06:23):
So if your search is nationwideand you've got a client in
Connecticut and you findsomebody that is a candidate in
Arizona, how often are youtalking about a relocation
package?
Because in our experience withour clients, very few of their
(06:45):
key leadership staff are, workremotely.
They're usually there on theground.
So that's a good question.
Yeah.
Relocation.
Ryanne (06:55):
Great question.
I would say about 40% of ourplacements are relocations.
So we always start locallywithin that market to just, it's
easier, you know, you don'thave so many factors to worry
about.
And there's a lot, I mean, thatgoes in with timing and and the
relocation piece of it.
So if we can look locally andfind that talent locally, that's
(07:17):
definitely where we start, butwe do a lot of relocations and
sometimes searches, people willsay for this, I specifically,
don't think there's somebody inmy market that does this at the
level that I do it at.
And I like to look outside thismarket.
And so we can then tap intothat.
And we do see most peopleoffering some sort of relocation
(07:37):
package for this.
And it doesn't have to beanything crazy.
I would say on average, myclients are offering anywhere
between five to 10,000.
So basically like a sign onbonus, just to help cover some
of those moving costs.
So they can put it towardswhatever they would like to.
And then they might help themto cover some of the initial
expense.
If they do have to relocatemaybe by themselves for a month
(08:00):
while they're finding a home andthey put them in a temporary
apartment or hotel while they'relooking for a permanent home,
they'll help cover some of thosecosts as well.
But yes, we usually see somesort of relocation package.
It doesn't have to be anythingcrazy though.
Janet (08:16):
In the home improvement space, what's the most common
job title?
Is it on the sales side or likea really skilled production
manager that's going to overseemultiple project managers and
multiple crews?
Is it on the operations side?
Ryanne (08:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would say the most common isprobably your sales or
production manager.
Those are the searches we seemost often because when you
think inside a home improvementorganization, the biggest
verticals are sales, production,and marketing.
And the marketing side ofthings, usually it is just one
that can handle the leadgeneration for a larger
(08:55):
footprint and maybe have acouple people under them to help
in specific areas.
Or an agency.
Yes, exactly.
And For sales, though, usuallya manager can only oversee about
10 before it starts to get toomuch for them, 10 sales reps.
And then they need to startlooking at adding assistants or
(09:18):
other managers.
And for the production staff,they also have crews and they
can only handle so much crew.
So I would say that the salesmanagement is probably the
number one and then productionis pretty close after that.
Janet (09:29):
That's great.
A lot of our clients,especially when we're riding
with them on that exponentialgrowth, we tend to start working
with clients when they'rereally starting to get success,
but they're scaling, but theyhaven't really blown up yet.
And then we usually ride onthat journey with them and aid
in the lead generation.
(09:50):
And what we've seen isinitially, usually if it's an
owner-operated company, theowner is the And in the first
year or so is the salespersonand then becomes the sales
manager over, you know, I'll geton a call with them and they're
like, yeah, my goal is to addtwo more reps this year.
When you are talking tocompanies and trying to figure
(10:15):
out if it's a good fit, are youusually talking to an owner that
realizes I can't do thisanymore and I need to hire a
manager?
Or do you get them after theythink I can recruit people?
this myself too and train thatperson do you get them after
they've struggled to fill theposition or do you get them when
(10:35):
they first realize i need tofill this position a
Ryanne (10:39):
little bit of both some are they realize i don't even
know where to begin and i'mgoing to start just by doing my
research and they come across arecruiting agency or maybe they
get referred to us we do have agood chunk of our clients who
are in that exact same spotactually.
And they are to the point wheremy organization is large enough
(11:01):
where I need to get somethingoff my plate because it's
stunting my growth.
And we're a really goodsolution for that because
usually they want somebody thatthey don't want or don't have to
do a ton of training with justbecause they want someone who
ideally like...
The whole goal is I want to getthis off my plate.
I don't want to have to takethe time to train somebody to do
this.
If I can have a plug and play,someone who's been there, done
(11:24):
that, and right away can step inand make an impact so I can
have a focus on other areas ofmy business, obviously that's
just going to really help withthe growth piece and getting
that off the ground.
Janet (11:36):
Yeah, and recruiting, hiring, and screening is no
joke.
We hate that.
Oh, gosh.
Caitlyn (11:43):
We have...
Love our employees.
We love our employees.
But to find the right employeeand to go
Janet (11:49):
through that process.
And I mean, we're realizingthat we're, we struggle with it.
So
Ryanne (11:55):
yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even us too, you know, it'srecruiting recruiters for our
own team.
It's definitely a timeconsuming process, which, and
mishires are even more timeconsuming and costly.
So especially for yourleadership positions, it's very
important to get the rightperson in the right seat.
Caitlyn (12:13):
Amen.
Have you noticed the candidatepool changing over the years?
I mean, tell me a little bitabout that.
Ryanne (12:22):
Yeah, for sure.
There's been a few things overthe last couple of years that
have made the pool change quitea bit.
Obviously, COVID.
We saw COVID.
We had the COVID boom.
The industry really benefitedfrom that.
We saw that.
it did kind of hurt in a waytoo, because I think a lot of
(12:43):
people hid behind the COVID waveand there's a lot of just
natural success from that, thatpeople kind of got away with
some things.
And so after that wave cameback down, we saw people
struggling and they then neededto look, okay, well maybe my
management team isn't as strongas I thought it was because we
(13:04):
were just riding this wave.
So we had changes there.
And then also just the economyright now in the last couple of
years post the covid wave thatthat we saw and as well as just
what we're in right now with umtariffs and policies and
consumer competence we're alsoseeing it's a very competitive
(13:27):
market out there right now for agood talent as well so those
have both caused shifts and thelast thing is probably private
equity which you've heard ofwith our industry in the last
couple of years.
Have you been living my life?
Caitlyn (13:42):
I know.
We've
Janet (13:46):
been in the COVID wave.
We were there when part of itstarted to crash.
And then we've been around andseen, I mean, honestly, it's
been a success story for ourclients.
But just in the last 18 months,we've had a, you know, we've
had a, we've, we've watched someof our favorite clients.
like graduate onto the nextlevel and private equity.
(14:10):
And in some cases when we'vebeen able to maintain that
relationship and in other cases,like it just doesn't make sense
because now they're part ofthis bigger network and then we
become like a redundant resourcethat they've got that need
filled somewhere else.
But yeah, private equity hasbeen a huge, you know, Pressure
creator.
Ryanne (14:30):
Yeah.
And it's been, you know, greatin some senses.
And then other times candidateshave lost jobs due to that.
And then there are goodcandidates that maybe it's just,
you know, they don't have thespace for them.
So that's definitely changedthe candidate pool quite a bit.
And we've seen a lot ofmovement.
Janet (14:48):
So you said that the candidate pool was more
competitive.
Talk to me about what you meanby the word competitive in this
climate right now.
Ryanne (14:57):
yeah so i think just with the the economy right now
and the current climate it'smore competitive for the
candidates um which is probablygood for the employer there are
people that are out there thatare are looking and this could
be due to like i mentioned theprivate equity piece that
(15:20):
there's still good people outthere that maybe um just
unfortunately had the privateequity come in and there's no
more space for them.
There are companies that due tothe economy have maybe had to
downsize and it wasn't due tothe individual.
So there are some goodcandidates out there, but
because of that, it's morecompetitive for the candidates.
Janet (15:43):
Whereas a few years ago, the employers were the ones
competing for talent.
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
Ryanne (15:52):
Yeah, and we'll probably see that shift here, I think,
in 2026.
It's starting to stabilize andget back to normalcy a bit.
But definitely in the lastcouple of years, it's been very
competitive for candidates withall the shifts that have
happened.
I
Caitlyn (16:09):
totally agree.
Tell me a little bit about, Imean, obviously, we're here
promoting you and your servicesonline.
go get a recruiting partner,use bricks.
But what about the mistakescompanies are making when they
hire on their own?
So what have you seen?
Ryanne (16:29):
Yeah, I think one of the most common mistakes is
companies are not treating therecruiting and hiring process
like they would a lead.
And what I mean by that is whenyou get a lead, obviously,
you're wanting to quicklyrespond to that lead, qualify
(16:51):
that lead, set the appointment.
It's all about the time- Yes.
Yes.
Speed to lead.
And it really should be thesame for recruiting as well.
We should follow a similarprocess.
And these leads are just asimportant.
I mean, having the right peoplein the right seats and
especially when it's verycompetitive out there.
Very, very important to makesure that you have somebody
(17:14):
that's one dedicated toresponding to that.
How quickly are they respondingto that?
What does that response looklike?
What can we get in front ofthem in a timely manner?
And how can we get them in theprocess as quickly as possible?
So having some metrics andstatistics behind your
recruitment process is superimportant so that you can
(17:35):
actually measure the success ofthat and see where maybe there
are any gaps or pitfalls withinyour recruiting and hiring
process.
Caitlyn (17:44):
That answers another one of my questions, which was,
you know, We talked about themistakes that they're making
without having a recruiting firmhelp them.
But then what other, I mean, somaybe you guys are in place,
maybe you aren't.
What should a company have whenthey do start the recruiting
process?
Ryanne (18:03):
Yes.
Yeah.
They should definitely havesomebody dedicated to managing
that process.
And that doesn't have to be aninternal recruiter.
It could be an office employee.
I mean, anybody really, it'sjust making sure that somebody's
held accountable to that andthat you have somebody that is
responding.
They know how to respond andhow quickly to respond and they
(18:26):
can be held accountable to thatprocess.
And I would say as well as astandard process when it comes
to interviewing Yes.
oh, well, I didn't ask thiscandidate about that.
(18:55):
And it's hard to compare ifthere's no standard to compare
them against.
And also it's hard when, okay,well, let's say somebody is out
of office.
Like can someone else step inif you need to, because you need
to get that process moving andbe able to conduct that
interview?
Or is it really reliant on oneperson within your organization?
So the more you can standardizeit and keep it consistent, the
(19:19):
easier it will be to be able tocompare candidates and make sure
that you're making the rightdecision in the end.
Janet (19:26):
So on that note, do you recommend, like, obviously, you
know, the whole purpose of thisis to highlight bricks and
encourage people that if, youknow, if your company's of a
certain size, you know, justwork with a recruiter and take
that task off your plate.
But for our listeners, ifyou're going to do it in-house,
you know, you're the experthere.
(19:47):
Yeah.
you know, you talked about thechallenges and we've actually
done this.
We've made this mistake.
We've had candidates apply tous.
Like I will interview oneperson.
Caitlin will interview somebodyelse.
I mean, it's been a few yearssince we've done this, this
particular mistake where I askone set of questions.
Caitlin asks a different set ofquestions.
(20:08):
A third person asks adifferent, and then we get
together to compare.
And we did exactly what yousaid.
Like, oh, well, I didn't thinkto ask that.
So with that mistake in mind,Do you recommend that a company
only have one person do all theinterviews?
Or is there benefit in havingtwo different perspectives
(20:29):
listen to the same answer?
And in that instance, are youthen...
dedicating two people to do allof the interviews I mean I know
I'm kind of getting in theweeds but no no that's a great
of it you know I
Ryanne (20:42):
do think it's important for multiple people to speak to
the individual in the processthe important thing though is to
document and all be on the samepage as to what questions are
being asked so that even if youdidn't do the first round you
are then taking down thoseanswers Caitlin knows exactly
what is being asked she's readyRight.
(21:04):
But yes, I do think thatmultiple people should be
(21:27):
involved, just knowing, though,that we're documenting it and
sharing that with anybody who'sinvolved in the hiring process.
There's
Janet (21:34):
some sort of standard framework if multiple people,
like we asked this question inthe beginning.
So on that note, I've obviouslythought about this a lot.
I mean, there's a mistake to bemade.
I feel like we've made it.
Hi.
It's us.
Hello.
I'm the problem.
But from, so bricks as a, youknow, all you guys do is recruit
(21:55):
and do placement.
You know, we've talked a lotabout how to conduct the
interviews and how to havestandard questions.
Once you get somebody past thatfirst screening, are you doing
any kind of testing?
Ryanne (22:10):
So we don't, because each client of ours is different
in the tests that they want,but there are a good chunk of
our clients who will test themand we help facilitate that.
So Bricks as a company, weinternally do.
So in our process forrecruiters, we'll after the-
Janet (22:27):
Recruiters.
Ryanne (22:28):
Yes, when we recruit our recruiters.
After the second interview, wehave them take a disc
assessment.
And that's something that wethen use as a tool to set up the
third interview and maybe askspecific questions around things
that we saw in that assessment.
Our clients will often use thedisc We have some clients,
though, that prefer the CI, thePI.
(22:50):
There's all these differentassessments.
And so we don't have it as partof our process, but we will
facilitate it if it is part ofour client's process whenever
they would like, just becauseevery client's a bit different
on when they want that done andwhat tests they want done as
well.
Janet (23:07):
When you're...
She has a question, but I'mgoing to sneak in with one more.
Then I'm going to stop.
No, you're good.
Okay.
So if you're recruiting for,let's say you've got this
booming home improvement companythat they're expanding like
crazy.
Maybe they're moving intomultiple locations, multiple
states.
And now you've got thisnationwide search and you are
(23:29):
kind of tapping people on ashoulder who already have a job.
They're in a similar company,but a few states away.
Do you find that you get a lotof resistance from those folks
when you get to like the testingportion?
Because they've already got ajob and now you're asking them
to go through a bunch of hoopsfor a job that they didn't even
(23:49):
apply for.
Yeah.
Ryanne (23:51):
Usually we do recommend that the assessments come a bit
later in the process because ofthat.
So we sit down with the clientand understand why, What makes
you unique?
What makes you different?
Why would somebody want to makea move to this opportunity?
And that's what we reallyhighlight, obviously, in our
outreach to them to get themhooked and in the process.
(24:14):
And if it is a goodopportunity, truly, and it
offers something that they'remissing, usually there's no
hesitancy then in movingforward.
After they've actually met withthe client, they've seen the
possibility, they're excitedabout it.
Usually these assessments don'ttake much time and they're more
than happy to to do thembecause our clients too are
(24:36):
lenient.
Of course, I know you'reemployed and so you have to do
it after hours and we're okay towork with your timeline and the
assessments that they give arenot super time consuming.
So by that time when they'vehad maybe one or two interviews
already and now they're excitedand they're bought in, they're
more motivated to do it.
Yeah.
Caitlyn (24:56):
What about shifting gears?
Hiring, do you help with like,if there's somebody already at
that company and shiftingsomebody from one position to
another position, like that theymight better be suited for?
Yeah,
Ryanne (25:10):
there's a couple of ways we could do that too.
Sometimes the company's okay.
Like they've told thatemployee, Hey, we're going to be
shifting you.
We're going to backfill yourposition.
And then sometimes it needs tobe a confidential search, which
we do a lot of confidentialsearches.
Let's say they do want to movethis person or potentially even
replace this person becausethey're not
Caitlyn (25:32):
working
Ryanne (25:32):
out.
And they can't really post forthat.
It's a very sensitive thingwhere they don't want that
person finding out.
That's where we're a reallygood solution because-
Janet (25:47):
make whatever
Caitlyn (25:48):
this decision is.
Janet (25:49):
Yes.
Caitlyn (25:50):
Yep.
That's great.
What about common gaps that yousee in leadership teams?
I mean, you're connecting withthem all the time.
They may or may not have a roleidentified when they start to
work with you.
Where are some gaps?
Ryanne (26:06):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It really depends Depends onthe company.
We do work with a very widerange.
So all the way from yoursmaller, like they don't have
leadership quite yet and we'rejust building a leadership team
up to the more regional nationalplayers who are large.
And so that really does depend.
I will say that a gap that I'veseen throughout leadership in
(26:29):
the last couple of years hasbeen the technology and AI
piece, that's been a huge factoras I'm sure you guys have seen
in marketing with CRMs,estimating tools, design
software, marketing lead genplatforms.
There's a lot of new technologyand it's, whether it's sales,
(26:53):
whether it's marketing,production, I'm seeing that that
is an area that is new and itmight be unfamiliar to some and
some are maybe having troublesadjusting or implementing that
change throughout anorganization.
But there's a lot of reallycool tools out there that- Yeah,
and they
Janet (27:10):
all need to talk to each other.
The tools do.
Yeah, we end up in thoseconversations all the time.
What we've seen homeimprovement companies do And
really, I think every industrydoes it.
I've done this too.
You know, you get excited aboutsomething that you see at a
trade show or you get excitedabout the new shiny technology
(27:33):
thing that's just come along andyou go ahead and you either
sign up for a demo or you maybeyou pay for the first six
months.
Speaker 04 (27:42):
And
Janet (27:42):
what we've seen is we've seen owners do that, but not
really have a plan in for howit's gonna integrate with their
CRM or how do you make sure thatyou insert this piece and your
field sales reps know about itor know how to use it?
If you're gonna installsomething on an iPad, do they
(28:04):
know how to use it?
Are they all using it the sameway?
If you have updates to thepresentation that you wanna push
out, are you centrally managingthat?
So on that IT piece, How commonis it that you're recruiting
for that?
I think you're spot on thatyou're identifying a gap.
You help owners see that theyhave this gap or do they come to
(28:26):
you and say, I need a computerperson?
Ryanne (28:32):
Typically, they have identified that previous to
coming to us, but we do helpthem sometimes find that in our
questionnaire process.
when we sit down with them andwe want to understand the
business as a whole and whatchallenges are you facing what
needs do you have and maybe wehelp uncover that that that is
an issue um a lot of the timesthough they will come to us and
(28:56):
we'll say yes, I see this as aproblem.
I want to implement this.
It's not being implemented.
Change is difficult toimplement.
And especially if that personthat's supposed to be
implementing it is not fully onboard with it, it's pretty clear
when that gap is there and theycome to us with, okay, this is
(29:16):
something that for sure I needyou to screen for in any future
candidates, what theirexperience is with technology
and implementing new technology.
That's great.
Caitlyn (29:26):
Um, A couple more questions, just out of
curiosity.
You got to brag on yourself.
Tell me like a success story,most rewarding placement story.
Ryanne (29:36):
yeah so i would say one of my largest regional clients i
began working with themprobably three years ago and
since then they have blown up sothey've been super exciting to
watch but when we initiallystarted with them three years
ago the role that they werelooking at was a cmo a chief
(29:59):
marketing officer that was likeone of the first big marketing
people that they would have hadin that role for the company and
would make a huge differencefor them in getting them to the
growth plan that they wanted tobe at.
And so we helped to find thatCMO and place them there and
super happy with it.
(30:20):
They were there for maybe fivemonths and then reached out that
CMO that we placed saying, hey,I wanna use you guys now to
help me find a call centerdirector.
We've been crushing it, we loveit here, and I want you to help
me find somebody on my teamnow.
And so then we went out, didthe same exact thing, was able
(30:43):
to find a call center directorplace them there and put them in
place.
And then before you know it, acouple months later, that
individual reached out and said,I need a call center manager.
So it was kind of a fun thingwhere, you know, you got to see
all the way down the line asthey grew.
they reached back out to usbecause of that positive
(31:03):
experience that they had,actually using us to place them
there.
And because of the success thatthey saw, they needed to find
some more support and wanted usto do that for them.
So it was definitely a reallyfun couple of years to help put
some very important people inplace and watch them grow.
Janet (31:21):
I love that.
That is an amazing storybecause it kind of shows the
power of the right skill set andthe right temperament and the
right job and i mean we'reobviously marketers so we we
love that you threw us amarketing story right it just
goes to show that if themarketing is really firing yeah
(31:42):
then you will need a call centermanager and then your call
center is going to blow up wherelike you're going to need more
and more of that staff becauseyou have the volume to support
it um yeah we actually i end uptalking to a lot of owners where
And I'd love to hear youropinion on this.
I do most of the sales for FatCat.
(32:05):
And so I'll talk to prospectivehome improvement companies that
are shopping for an agency.
And they'll say something like,if I'm talking to somebody
that's been kind of wearing allthe hats and they're trying to
grow, the very first thing thatthey want to hire are sales
reps.
And they'll hire a sales repbefore they have the marketing
(32:25):
in place.
Speaker 04 (32:26):
And
Janet (32:27):
so they'll say like, well, I just hired this rep and
now I need X number of leadseach week.
And I've always kind ofstruggled with like what comes
first, the chicken or the egg.
Because if you generated allthe leads and you didn't have a
rep to send them on theappointments, that's another
problem.
Speaker 04 (32:44):
Like
Janet (32:46):
if somebody came to you and said, I'm struggling between
filling this marketing role orfilling a sales role.
I don't know if you...
Yeah,
Ryanne (32:56):
no, that's a great question.
I would say it probably is moreimportant to have the marketing
in place because if you do geta really good rep and you're not
able to provide them withleads, they're not going to make
money and they're not going tostay.
And those are very highturnover, difficult positions to
(33:18):
fill.
So the marketing and having theleads for them is very, very
important to keep them there andkeep them happy.
So I would say marketing forsure.
Caitlyn (33:31):
Yeah, that's great.
Well, I'll share this storyreal quick and then we can tell
people how to connect with you.
So I used to, before I've movedon to a different role, I was
the point of contact with mostof our home improvement clients
and I've helped them growthrough the years and to the
point that I had one owner onetime after a meeting stick
(33:52):
around and he was like, hey, Ireally need a you, according to
me, in-house to help manage youguys.
How do I find that?
And so to now know that BricksRecruiting Partners exists, I...
If we could go back in time, wewould have told that owner,
Ryanne (34:12):
you need to call Bricks.
Caitlyn (34:13):
Yeah.
I couldn't be more happy toknow about you, to tell our
account managers about you, toshare what y'all do because it
is so important to the story youjust told.
Yes, absolutely.
It makes our jobs easier tohave somebody who we're working
with who is the expert inmarketing as well.
Yeah.
Well, great.
(34:35):
We're so happy to have youtoday.
I could have talked to youforever.
You're amazing.
Tell us how our listeners canfind out, connect with you,
learn more.
Ryanne (34:45):
Yeah.
So I am obviously on LinkedIn.
I live on LinkedIn.
And so that's probably one ofthe best ways to reach me.
It's just Ryan Millis.
I don't know if you want meto...
put out the whole link there.
We'll put it in the
Janet (35:05):
show notes and we'll publish it on our site.
So
Ryanne (35:08):
perfect.
So yeah, LinkedIn link, butobviously phone email is
probably the best way to reachme as well.
I am our East coast territorymanager, but we do have two
other territory managers for ourcentral and West coast.
So depending on where somebodyis located, we want to make sure
that we get them set up withthe best person that will have
the market mastery to be able tohelp them.
(35:29):
But other, Otherwise, I have acalendar link I can share too
that will be really easy forpeople to just set up a call
that way.
And I'm always happy to chatabout whether it's a sales rep
or installer need or some ofthose higher level needs and
when it's time to bring thosepeople on.
(35:49):
And I'm always happy to shareany market research that we
have.
Caitlyn (35:53):
Oh, fantastic.
You are the best.
Well, thank you.
BricksRecruiting.com.
We will list all of that in ourshow notes as well.
Ryan, so good to meet you.
I hope we see you at a showsoon.
I know we're going to stay intouch.
Ryanne (36:06):
Yes, for sure.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And it was great to speak withyou both.
You too.
Thank you
Janet (36:11):
so much.
Well, thank you listeners forjoining us for another episode
of Digital Marketing forContractors.
As always, we hope you gotvalue from it.
And if you can give us a halfan hour, our job is to give you
some actionable tips, tricks,and insights to help you grow
your home improvement business.
So thanks again and join us foranother episode.
Thank you.
(36:31):
Thanks, Ryan.
Don (36:33):
Digital marketing for contractors is created by fat
cat strategies.
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet (00:31):
Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors.
This podcast is brought to youby Fat Cat Strategies.
We are a full service marketingagency based in Raleigh, North
Carolina, and we specialize inhelping home improvement
businesses just like yours growtheir business.
My name is Janet.
I am the founder and managingpartner.
And today I've got CaitlinNoble with me, co-owner of the
(00:51):
business, head of clientservices, and a super special
guest that I'm going to letCaitlin introduce.
We're super excited abouttoday's guest.
Caitlin, tell everybody who youare and then tell everybody who
our guest
Caitlyn (01:02):
is.
Yes.
Like Janet said, I'm Caitlyn.
I am the head of clientservices here at Fat Cat.
And I have been recentlyintroduced to Ryanne Millis of
Bricks Recruiting Partners.
Ryan, we are so excited to haveyou on.
Ryan, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Ryanne (01:16):
Yeah, I know.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And I'm super excited.
I am the director of the homeimprovement division here at
Bricks Recruiting.
And I'm also our East Coastterritory manager.
So we actually have a couple ofdifferent divisions, our home
improvement being our largest,and that's the team that I
oversee.
Caitlyn (01:35):
And that is why you're absolutely on this podcast.
Yes, those
Janet (01:38):
are our only listeners.
Tell us what BRICS does.
Yeah.
Ryanne (01:43):
Yeah, so we recruit specifically for the
construction industry.
And as I mentioned, we do havea couple of different verticals
that have differentspecializations.
So home improvement being ourlargest, we also have building
materials and a roofing thatdoes residential and commercial
mix.
And we recruit at themanagement and executive level.
(02:05):
So that's our specialty.
I would say that we do some ofthe individual contributor roles
as well.
more on the building materialsside with our territory sales
reps and B2B reps.
But really our specialty isgoing to be nationwide
recruiting for the homeimprovement industry at that
management and executive level.
(02:25):
So not the day laborers.
No, not sales reps orinstallers.
I know that is a huge need toget asked that all the time.
And so we do work with clientsto give advice on those types of
roles because obviously likethis is who we're talking to
business owners and people hirefor these all day every day so
(02:46):
we're getting a lot of goodadvice and we know what works
for them so we're always happyto share different tactics but
it's not our specialty rolesthat we recruit for
Caitlyn (02:54):
that's so um niche which i love and i think um
that's something that probablymakes you guys stand out from
other recruiting firms correct
Ryanne (03:05):
Yeah, there are not a lot of firms that specialize in
the home improvement industry,and especially at the level that
we do it at.
So I mean, I on my team havenine other recruiters that are
dedicated just towards homeimprovement.
And we do sponsor a lot ofdifferent industry events.
And usually we're the onlyexclusive recruiter at these
(03:27):
events as well.
And so, yeah, there's just nota lot of people that have such a
niche within this industry,which has really helped us
because we get to know the KPIs.
We know what success looks likein this role.
And so, yeah, it's really aunique industry, but we love it.
Caitlyn (03:45):
That's awesome.
I mean, going a little offscript, we are managing our
clients' websites and ads, etcetera.
And most of our clients do hireconstantly.
They want careers listed ontheir websites and we are
managing those career pages.
So I think it's prettyimportant to know that there are
(04:06):
companies like Bricks outthere.
Yes, you've got to have itlisted on your website, but I
mean- But to have an actualskilled recruiting partner to
help fill those- criticalleadership roles.
Do you guys point people backto a website or are you going
straight?
Like, I'm going to jump intoit.
Yeah.
Do they go straight to yourpoint of contact?
(04:28):
How does it work?
Ryanne (04:30):
Yeah, so a client will reach out with a need, let's say
a sales director, and they'retypically coming to us when they
have used traditional jobboards and are just not getting
the quality applicants or eventhe quantity of applicants that
they're looking for.
And usually the good talent forleadership isn't on the job
boards anyway.
(04:50):
They are at a competitor, doingwell, not looking.
And so it would take somebodylike us to proactively reach
out, tap them on the shoulderand say, hey, I have this great
opportunity.
And whether you're missinggrowth opportunity, better
compensation, benefits, betterwork-life balance, this client
may be able to offer you that.
And you don't even know it'sout there because you're not
(05:12):
really looking.
And it would take somebody tobring that to your attention to
gain your interest.
And so what we do is very muchlike what you could call your
old school headhunting, where anoutbound sales organization.
We're using our network that webuilt over the 13 years of
doing this.
We're sending out messages,calling people, getting them on
(05:34):
the phones, tapping into theirnetworks, screening them.
It's a very time consumingprocess, but we're able to speed
that up due to this is all wedo and have done for 13 years.
So we have that quick access tothat.
And you've
Janet (05:47):
got that industry expertise.
So for a software company onMonday, and a law firm on
Tuesday, it's all in theconstruction home improvement.
You know what you're lookingfor.
100%,
Ryanne (06:01):
yeah.
Janet (06:02):
So I have a follow-up question.
You said you do a nationwidesearch.
I mean, this may be a dumbquestion, but this is why you're
on the podcast.
So our listeners can kind ofbenefit from this conversation
and understand when they get tothe point where they might want
to hire a recruiting companylike let's get into the meat and
potatoes of how it works.
(06:23):
So if your search is nationwideand you've got a client in
Connecticut and you findsomebody that is a candidate in
Arizona, how often are youtalking about a relocation
package?
Because in our experience withour clients, very few of their
(06:45):
key leadership staff are, workremotely.
They're usually there on theground.
So that's a good question.
Yeah.
Relocation.
Ryanne (06:55):
Great question.
I would say about 40% of ourplacements are relocations.
So we always start locallywithin that market to just, it's
easier, you know, you don'thave so many factors to worry
about.
And there's a lot, I mean, thatgoes in with timing and and the
relocation piece of it.
So if we can look locally andfind that talent locally, that's
(07:17):
definitely where we start, butwe do a lot of relocations and
sometimes searches, people willsay for this, I specifically,
don't think there's somebody inmy market that does this at the
level that I do it at.
And I like to look outside thismarket.
And so we can then tap intothat.
And we do see most peopleoffering some sort of relocation
(07:37):
package for this.
And it doesn't have to beanything crazy.
I would say on average, myclients are offering anywhere
between five to 10,000.
So basically like a sign onbonus, just to help cover some
of those moving costs.
So they can put it towardswhatever they would like to.
And then they might help themto cover some of the initial
expense.
If they do have to relocatemaybe by themselves for a month
(08:00):
while they're finding a home andthey put them in a temporary
apartment or hotel while they'relooking for a permanent home,
they'll help cover some of thosecosts as well.
But yes, we usually see somesort of relocation package.
It doesn't have to be anythingcrazy though.
Janet (08:16):
In the home improvement space, what's the most common
job title?
Is it on the sales side or likea really skilled production
manager that's going to overseemultiple project managers and
multiple crews?
Is it on the operations side?
Ryanne (08:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would say the most common isprobably your sales or
production manager.
Those are the searches we seemost often because when you
think inside a home improvementorganization, the biggest
verticals are sales, production,and marketing.
And the marketing side ofthings, usually it is just one
that can handle the leadgeneration for a larger
(08:55):
footprint and maybe have acouple people under them to help
in specific areas.
Or an agency.
Yes, exactly.
And For sales, though, usuallya manager can only oversee about
10 before it starts to get toomuch for them, 10 sales reps.
And then they need to startlooking at adding assistants or
(09:18):
other managers.
And for the production staff,they also have crews and they
can only handle so much crew.
So I would say that the salesmanagement is probably the
number one and then productionis pretty close after that.
Janet (09:29):
That's great.
A lot of our clients,especially when we're riding
with them on that exponentialgrowth, we tend to start working
with clients when they'rereally starting to get success,
but they're scaling, but theyhaven't really blown up yet.
And then we usually ride onthat journey with them and aid
in the lead generation.
(09:50):
And what we've seen isinitially, usually if it's an
owner-operated company, theowner is the And in the first
year or so is the salespersonand then becomes the sales
manager over, you know, I'll geton a call with them and they're
like, yeah, my goal is to addtwo more reps this year.
When you are talking tocompanies and trying to figure
(10:15):
out if it's a good fit, are youusually talking to an owner that
realizes I can't do thisanymore and I need to hire a
manager?
Or do you get them after theythink I can recruit people?
this myself too and train thatperson do you get them after
they've struggled to fill theposition or do you get them when
(10:35):
they first realize i need tofill this position a
Ryanne (10:39):
little bit of both some are they realize i don't even
know where to begin and i'mgoing to start just by doing my
research and they come across arecruiting agency or maybe they
get referred to us we do have agood chunk of our clients who
are in that exact same spotactually.
And they are to the point wheremy organization is large enough
(11:01):
where I need to get somethingoff my plate because it's
stunting my growth.
And we're a really goodsolution for that because
usually they want somebody thatthey don't want or don't have to
do a ton of training with justbecause they want someone who
ideally like...
The whole goal is I want to getthis off my plate.
I don't want to have to takethe time to train somebody to do
this.
If I can have a plug and play,someone who's been there, done
(11:24):
that, and right away can step inand make an impact so I can
have a focus on other areas ofmy business, obviously that's
just going to really help withthe growth piece and getting
that off the ground.
Janet (11:36):
Yeah, and recruiting, hiring, and screening is no
joke.
We hate that.
Oh, gosh.
Caitlyn (11:43):
We have...
Love our employees.
We love our employees.
But to find the right employeeand to go
Janet (11:49):
through that process.
And I mean, we're realizingthat we're, we struggle with it.
So
Ryanne (11:55):
yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even us too, you know, it'srecruiting recruiters for our
own team.
It's definitely a timeconsuming process, which, and
mishires are even more timeconsuming and costly.
So especially for yourleadership positions, it's very
important to get the rightperson in the right seat.
Caitlyn (12:13):
Amen.
Have you noticed the candidatepool changing over the years?
I mean, tell me a little bitabout that.
Ryanne (12:22):
Yeah, for sure.
There's been a few things overthe last couple of years that
have made the pool change quitea bit.
Obviously, COVID.
We saw COVID.
We had the COVID boom.
The industry really benefitedfrom that.
We saw that.
it did kind of hurt in a waytoo, because I think a lot of
(12:43):
people hid behind the COVID waveand there's a lot of just
natural success from that, thatpeople kind of got away with
some things.
And so after that wave cameback down, we saw people
struggling and they then neededto look, okay, well maybe my
management team isn't as strongas I thought it was because we
(13:04):
were just riding this wave.
So we had changes there.
And then also just the economyright now in the last couple of
years post the covid wave thatthat we saw and as well as just
what we're in right now with umtariffs and policies and
consumer competence we're alsoseeing it's a very competitive
(13:27):
market out there right now for agood talent as well so those
have both caused shifts and thelast thing is probably private
equity which you've heard ofwith our industry in the last
couple of years.
Have you been living my life?
Caitlyn (13:42):
I know.
We've
Janet (13:46):
been in the COVID wave.
We were there when part of itstarted to crash.
And then we've been around andseen, I mean, honestly, it's
been a success story for ourclients.
But just in the last 18 months,we've had a, you know, we've
had a, we've, we've watched someof our favorite clients.
like graduate onto the nextlevel and private equity.
(14:10):
And in some cases when we'vebeen able to maintain that
relationship and in other cases,like it just doesn't make sense
because now they're part ofthis bigger network and then we
become like a redundant resourcethat they've got that need
filled somewhere else.
But yeah, private equity hasbeen a huge, you know, Pressure
creator.
Ryanne (14:30):
Yeah.
And it's been, you know, greatin some senses.
And then other times candidateshave lost jobs due to that.
And then there are goodcandidates that maybe it's just,
you know, they don't have thespace for them.
So that's definitely changedthe candidate pool quite a bit.
And we've seen a lot ofmovement.
Janet (14:48):
So you said that the candidate pool was more
competitive.
Talk to me about what you meanby the word competitive in this
climate right now.
Ryanne (14:57):
yeah so i think just with the the economy right now
and the current climate it'smore competitive for the
candidates um which is probablygood for the employer there are
people that are out there thatare are looking and this could
be due to like i mentioned theprivate equity piece that
(15:20):
there's still good people outthere that maybe um just
unfortunately had the privateequity come in and there's no
more space for them.
There are companies that due tothe economy have maybe had to
downsize and it wasn't due tothe individual.
So there are some goodcandidates out there, but
because of that, it's morecompetitive for the candidates.
Janet (15:43):
Whereas a few years ago, the employers were the ones
competing for talent.
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
Ryanne (15:52):
Yeah, and we'll probably see that shift here, I think,
in 2026.
It's starting to stabilize andget back to normalcy a bit.
But definitely in the lastcouple of years, it's been very
competitive for candidates withall the shifts that have
happened.
I
Caitlyn (16:09):
totally agree.
Tell me a little bit about, Imean, obviously, we're here
promoting you and your servicesonline.
go get a recruiting partner,use bricks.
But what about the mistakescompanies are making when they
hire on their own?
So what have you seen?
Ryanne (16:29):
Yeah, I think one of the most common mistakes is
companies are not treating therecruiting and hiring process
like they would a lead.
And what I mean by that is whenyou get a lead, obviously,
you're wanting to quicklyrespond to that lead, qualify
(16:51):
that lead, set the appointment.
It's all about the time- Yes.
Yes.
Speed to lead.
And it really should be thesame for recruiting as well.
We should follow a similarprocess.
And these leads are just asimportant.
I mean, having the right peoplein the right seats and
especially when it's verycompetitive out there.
Very, very important to makesure that you have somebody
(17:14):
that's one dedicated toresponding to that.
How quickly are they respondingto that?
What does that response looklike?
What can we get in front ofthem in a timely manner?
And how can we get them in theprocess as quickly as possible?
So having some metrics andstatistics behind your
recruitment process is superimportant so that you can
(17:35):
actually measure the success ofthat and see where maybe there
are any gaps or pitfalls withinyour recruiting and hiring
process.
Caitlyn (17:44):
That answers another one of my questions, which was,
you know, We talked about themistakes that they're making
without having a recruiting firmhelp them.
But then what other, I mean, somaybe you guys are in place,
maybe you aren't.
What should a company have whenthey do start the recruiting
process?
Ryanne (18:03):
Yes.
Yeah.
They should definitely havesomebody dedicated to managing
that process.
And that doesn't have to be aninternal recruiter.
It could be an office employee.
I mean, anybody really, it'sjust making sure that somebody's
held accountable to that andthat you have somebody that is
responding.
They know how to respond andhow quickly to respond and they
(18:26):
can be held accountable to thatprocess.
And I would say as well as astandard process when it comes
to interviewing Yes.
oh, well, I didn't ask thiscandidate about that.
(18:55):
And it's hard to compare ifthere's no standard to compare
them against.
And also it's hard when, okay,well, let's say somebody is out
of office.
Like can someone else step inif you need to, because you need
to get that process moving andbe able to conduct that
interview?
Or is it really reliant on oneperson within your organization?
So the more you can standardizeit and keep it consistent, the
(19:19):
easier it will be to be able tocompare candidates and make sure
that you're making the rightdecision in the end.
Janet (19:26):
So on that note, do you recommend, like, obviously, you
know, the whole purpose of thisis to highlight bricks and
encourage people that if, youknow, if your company's of a
certain size, you know, justwork with a recruiter and take
that task off your plate.
But for our listeners, ifyou're going to do it in-house,
you know, you're the experthere.
(19:47):
Yeah.
you know, you talked about thechallenges and we've actually
done this.
We've made this mistake.
We've had candidates apply tous.
Like I will interview oneperson.
Caitlin will interview somebodyelse.
I mean, it's been a few yearssince we've done this, this
particular mistake where I askone set of questions.
Caitlin asks a different set ofquestions.
(20:08):
A third person asks adifferent, and then we get
together to compare.
And we did exactly what yousaid.
Like, oh, well, I didn't thinkto ask that.
So with that mistake in mind,Do you recommend that a company
only have one person do all theinterviews?
Or is there benefit in havingtwo different perspectives
(20:29):
listen to the same answer?
And in that instance, are youthen...
dedicating two people to do allof the interviews I mean I know
I'm kind of getting in theweeds but no no that's a great
of it you know I
Ryanne (20:42):
do think it's important for multiple people to speak to
the individual in the processthe important thing though is to
document and all be on the samepage as to what questions are
being asked so that even if youdidn't do the first round you
are then taking down thoseanswers Caitlin knows exactly
what is being asked she's readyRight.
(21:04):
But yes, I do think thatmultiple people should be
(21:27):
involved, just knowing, though,that we're documenting it and
sharing that with anybody who'sinvolved in the hiring process.
There's
Janet (21:34):
some sort of standard framework if multiple people,
like we asked this question inthe beginning.
So on that note, I've obviouslythought about this a lot.
I mean, there's a mistake to bemade.
I feel like we've made it.
Hi.
It's us.
Hello.
I'm the problem.
But from, so bricks as a, youknow, all you guys do is recruit
(21:55):
and do placement.
You know, we've talked a lotabout how to conduct the
interviews and how to havestandard questions.
Once you get somebody past thatfirst screening, are you doing
any kind of testing?
Ryanne (22:10):
So we don't, because each client of ours is different
in the tests that they want,but there are a good chunk of
our clients who will test themand we help facilitate that.
So Bricks as a company, weinternally do.
So in our process forrecruiters, we'll after the-
Janet (22:27):
Recruiters.
Ryanne (22:28):
Yes, when we recruit our recruiters.
After the second interview, wehave them take a disc
assessment.
And that's something that wethen use as a tool to set up the
third interview and maybe askspecific questions around things
that we saw in that assessment.
Our clients will often use thedisc We have some clients,
though, that prefer the CI, thePI.
(22:50):
There's all these differentassessments.
And so we don't have it as partof our process, but we will
facilitate it if it is part ofour client's process whenever
they would like, just becauseevery client's a bit different
on when they want that done andwhat tests they want done as
well.
Janet (23:07):
When you're...
She has a question, but I'mgoing to sneak in with one more.
Then I'm going to stop.
No, you're good.
Okay.
So if you're recruiting for,let's say you've got this
booming home improvement companythat they're expanding like
crazy.
Maybe they're moving intomultiple locations, multiple
states.
And now you've got thisnationwide search and you are
(23:29):
kind of tapping people on ashoulder who already have a job.
They're in a similar company,but a few states away.
Do you find that you get a lotof resistance from those folks
when you get to like the testingportion?
Because they've already got ajob and now you're asking them
to go through a bunch of hoopsfor a job that they didn't even
(23:49):
apply for.
Yeah.
Ryanne (23:51):
Usually we do recommend that the assessments come a bit
later in the process because ofthat.
So we sit down with the clientand understand why, What makes
you unique?
What makes you different?
Why would somebody want to makea move to this opportunity?
And that's what we reallyhighlight, obviously, in our
outreach to them to get themhooked and in the process.
(24:14):
And if it is a goodopportunity, truly, and it
offers something that they'remissing, usually there's no
hesitancy then in movingforward.
After they've actually met withthe client, they've seen the
possibility, they're excitedabout it.
Usually these assessments don'ttake much time and they're more
than happy to to do thembecause our clients too are
(24:36):
lenient.
Of course, I know you'reemployed and so you have to do
it after hours and we're okay towork with your timeline and the
assessments that they give arenot super time consuming.
So by that time when they'vehad maybe one or two interviews
already and now they're excitedand they're bought in, they're
more motivated to do it.
Yeah.
Caitlyn (24:56):
What about shifting gears?
Hiring, do you help with like,if there's somebody already at
that company and shiftingsomebody from one position to
another position, like that theymight better be suited for?
Yeah,
Ryanne (25:10):
there's a couple of ways we could do that too.
Sometimes the company's okay.
Like they've told thatemployee, Hey, we're going to be
shifting you.
We're going to backfill yourposition.
And then sometimes it needs tobe a confidential search, which
we do a lot of confidentialsearches.
Let's say they do want to movethis person or potentially even
replace this person becausethey're not
Caitlyn (25:32):
working
Ryanne (25:32):
out.
And they can't really post forthat.
It's a very sensitive thingwhere they don't want that
person finding out.
That's where we're a reallygood solution because-
Janet (25:47):
make whatever
Caitlyn (25:48):
this decision is.
Janet (25:49):
Yes.
Caitlyn (25:50):
Yep.
That's great.
What about common gaps that yousee in leadership teams?
I mean, you're connecting withthem all the time.
They may or may not have a roleidentified when they start to
work with you.
Where are some gaps?
Ryanne (26:06):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It really depends Depends onthe company.
We do work with a very widerange.
So all the way from yoursmaller, like they don't have
leadership quite yet and we'rejust building a leadership team
up to the more regional nationalplayers who are large.
And so that really does depend.
I will say that a gap that I'veseen throughout leadership in
(26:29):
the last couple of years hasbeen the technology and AI
piece, that's been a huge factoras I'm sure you guys have seen
in marketing with CRMs,estimating tools, design
software, marketing lead genplatforms.
There's a lot of new technologyand it's, whether it's sales,
(26:53):
whether it's marketing,production, I'm seeing that that
is an area that is new and itmight be unfamiliar to some and
some are maybe having troublesadjusting or implementing that
change throughout anorganization.
But there's a lot of reallycool tools out there that- Yeah,
and they
Janet (27:10):
all need to talk to each other.
The tools do.
Yeah, we end up in thoseconversations all the time.
What we've seen homeimprovement companies do And
really, I think every industrydoes it.
I've done this too.
You know, you get excited aboutsomething that you see at a
trade show or you get excitedabout the new shiny technology
(27:33):
thing that's just come along andyou go ahead and you either
sign up for a demo or you maybeyou pay for the first six
months.
Speaker 04 (27:42):
And
Janet (27:42):
what we've seen is we've seen owners do that, but not
really have a plan in for howit's gonna integrate with their
CRM or how do you make sure thatyou insert this piece and your
field sales reps know about itor know how to use it?
If you're gonna installsomething on an iPad, do they
(28:04):
know how to use it?
Are they all using it the sameway?
If you have updates to thepresentation that you wanna push
out, are you centrally managingthat?
So on that IT piece, How commonis it that you're recruiting
for that?
I think you're spot on thatyou're identifying a gap.
You help owners see that theyhave this gap or do they come to
(28:26):
you and say, I need a computerperson?
Ryanne (28:32):
Typically, they have identified that previous to
coming to us, but we do helpthem sometimes find that in our
questionnaire process.
when we sit down with them andwe want to understand the
business as a whole and whatchallenges are you facing what
needs do you have and maybe wehelp uncover that that that is
an issue um a lot of the timesthough they will come to us and
(28:56):
we'll say yes, I see this as aproblem.
I want to implement this.
It's not being implemented.
Change is difficult toimplement.
And especially if that personthat's supposed to be
implementing it is not fully onboard with it, it's pretty clear
when that gap is there and theycome to us with, okay, this is
(29:16):
something that for sure I needyou to screen for in any future
candidates, what theirexperience is with technology
and implementing new technology.
That's great.
Caitlyn (29:26):
Um, A couple more questions, just out of
curiosity.
You got to brag on yourself.
Tell me like a success story,most rewarding placement story.
Ryanne (29:36):
yeah so i would say one of my largest regional clients i
began working with themprobably three years ago and
since then they have blown up sothey've been super exciting to
watch but when we initiallystarted with them three years
ago the role that they werelooking at was a cmo a chief
(29:59):
marketing officer that was likeone of the first big marketing
people that they would have hadin that role for the company and
would make a huge differencefor them in getting them to the
growth plan that they wanted tobe at.
And so we helped to find thatCMO and place them there and
super happy with it.
(30:20):
They were there for maybe fivemonths and then reached out that
CMO that we placed saying, hey,I wanna use you guys now to
help me find a call centerdirector.
We've been crushing it, we loveit here, and I want you to help
me find somebody on my teamnow.
And so then we went out, didthe same exact thing, was able
(30:43):
to find a call center directorplace them there and put them in
place.
And then before you know it, acouple months later, that
individual reached out and said,I need a call center manager.
So it was kind of a fun thingwhere, you know, you got to see
all the way down the line asthey grew.
they reached back out to usbecause of that positive
(31:03):
experience that they had,actually using us to place them
there.
And because of the success thatthey saw, they needed to find
some more support and wanted usto do that for them.
So it was definitely a reallyfun couple of years to help put
some very important people inplace and watch them grow.
Janet (31:21):
I love that.
That is an amazing storybecause it kind of shows the
power of the right skill set andthe right temperament and the
right job and i mean we'reobviously marketers so we we
love that you threw us amarketing story right it just
goes to show that if themarketing is really firing yeah
(31:42):
then you will need a call centermanager and then your call
center is going to blow up wherelike you're going to need more
and more of that staff becauseyou have the volume to support
it um yeah we actually i end uptalking to a lot of owners where
And I'd love to hear youropinion on this.
I do most of the sales for FatCat.
(32:05):
And so I'll talk to prospectivehome improvement companies that
are shopping for an agency.
And they'll say something like,if I'm talking to somebody
that's been kind of wearing allthe hats and they're trying to
grow, the very first thing thatthey want to hire are sales
reps.
And they'll hire a sales repbefore they have the marketing
(32:25):
in place.
Speaker 04 (32:26):
And
Janet (32:27):
so they'll say like, well, I just hired this rep and
now I need X number of leadseach week.
And I've always kind ofstruggled with like what comes
first, the chicken or the egg.
Because if you generated allthe leads and you didn't have a
rep to send them on theappointments, that's another
problem.
Speaker 04 (32:44):
Like
Janet (32:46):
if somebody came to you and said, I'm struggling between
filling this marketing role orfilling a sales role.
I don't know if you...
Yeah,
Ryanne (32:56):
no, that's a great question.
I would say it probably is moreimportant to have the marketing
in place because if you do geta really good rep and you're not
able to provide them withleads, they're not going to make
money and they're not going tostay.
And those are very highturnover, difficult positions to
(33:18):
fill.
So the marketing and having theleads for them is very, very
important to keep them there andkeep them happy.
So I would say marketing forsure.
Caitlyn (33:31):
Yeah, that's great.
Well, I'll share this storyreal quick and then we can tell
people how to connect with you.
So I used to, before I've movedon to a different role, I was
the point of contact with mostof our home improvement clients
and I've helped them growthrough the years and to the
point that I had one owner onetime after a meeting stick
(33:52):
around and he was like, hey, Ireally need a you, according to
me, in-house to help manage youguys.
How do I find that?
And so to now know that BricksRecruiting Partners exists, I...
If we could go back in time, wewould have told that owner,
Ryanne (34:12):
you need to call Bricks.
Caitlyn (34:13):
Yeah.
I couldn't be more happy toknow about you, to tell our
account managers about you, toshare what y'all do because it
is so important to the story youjust told.
Yes, absolutely.
It makes our jobs easier tohave somebody who we're working
with who is the expert inmarketing as well.
Yeah.
Well, great.
(34:35):
We're so happy to have youtoday.
I could have talked to youforever.
You're amazing.
Tell us how our listeners canfind out, connect with you,
learn more.
Ryanne (34:45):
Yeah.
So I am obviously on LinkedIn.
I live on LinkedIn.
And so that's probably one ofthe best ways to reach me.
It's just Ryan Millis.
I don't know if you want meto...
put out the whole link there.
We'll put it in the
Janet (35:05):
show notes and we'll publish it on our site.
So
Ryanne (35:08):
perfect.
So yeah, LinkedIn link, butobviously phone email is
probably the best way to reachme as well.
I am our East coast territorymanager, but we do have two
other territory managers for ourcentral and West coast.
So depending on where somebodyis located, we want to make sure
that we get them set up withthe best person that will have
the market mastery to be able tohelp them.
(35:29):
But other, Otherwise, I have acalendar link I can share too
that will be really easy forpeople to just set up a call
that way.
And I'm always happy to chatabout whether it's a sales rep
or installer need or some ofthose higher level needs and
when it's time to bring thosepeople on.
(35:49):
And I'm always happy to shareany market research that we
have.
Caitlyn (35:53):
Oh, fantastic.
You are the best.
Well, thank you.
BricksRecruiting.com.
We will list all of that in ourshow notes as well.
Ryan, so good to meet you.
I hope we see you at a showsoon.
I know we're going to stay intouch.
Ryanne (36:06):
Yes, for sure.
Thank you so much for havingme.
And it was great to speak withyou both.
You too.
Thank you
Janet (36:11):
so much.
Well, thank you listeners forjoining us for another episode
of Digital Marketing forContractors.
As always, we hope you gotvalue from it.
And if you can give us a halfan hour, our job is to give you
some actionable tips, tricks,and insights to help you grow
your home improvement business.
So thanks again and join us foranother episode.
Thank you.
(36:31):
Thanks, Ryan.
Don (36:33):
Digital marketing for contractors is created by fat
cat strategies.
For more information, visitfatcatstrategies.com.
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