Friday Seminars

Educational seminars last 1.5 hours.
Educational workshops last 3 hours.

 December 10, 2010
8:00 AMB-09: Gotcha! Attitude is Everything in Sales
Guy Gruenberg
Grow Consulting


Come catch the motivation from this high-energy seminar that will get you focused on how Attitude is Everything(R) and then show you how to apply this Attitude Is Everything(R) concept to the 12 steps of Sales Genius. Innovative in its own right, this updated seminar incorporates fresh motivational concepts from everyday life and sales applications. Plus, you'll learn how you can create concise one-page sales and marketing action plans to help keep you on track. Packed with new ideas and reminders to help ensure your sales success for 2011. Don't miss it!
8:00 AMB-10: You've Earned It, Here's How to Keep It!
Robert M. Pitkin
Levy and Craig


Doing the job right is only part of a contractor's business; getting paid for the work is just as important. An attorney specializing in construction and collections law will discuss what you can do to collect what you are owed more quickly and at less cost. You'll learn key provisions every contract should contain, payment remedies you can use and how each works, and you'll learn how you as a contractor can actually lose the right to collect what you are owed. You'll also learn how to navigate thru bankruptcy court and protect your rights when bankruptcy is filed by the owner/developer, general contractor or a supplier. Not a seminar filled with "legalese," but a down-to-earth explanation of your legal rights, responsibilities - and tips to help you keep what you've earned.
8:00 AMB-11: Better Estimating on Sealcoating Jobs
Jeff Stokes
Next Level Contractor System


Knowing how to bid competitively - while still being able to increase your profits - is one of the secrets of running a successful sealcoating business. And this highly successful session will do more than reveal the secret - it will show you how to better calculate the actual cost of each sealcoating job. You will learn bidding techniques that - based on the actual job cost - will ensure you a reasonable job profit, and you'll also work through a step-by-step example of a sealcoating job, learning all the factors that must go into costing and bidding each type of work. Don't miss this chance to increase your profits by improving your estimating and bidding. What you learn in this session can reap profits on your very next bid!
8:00 AMB-12: Improve Your Overlay Work
Jim Scherocman, P.E., Consulting Engineer



Overlay work is a mainstay of most paving contractors and this session will help you improve every parking lot and roadway overlay you do. First you'll learn why preparation of the pavement surface is essential to a long-lasting, quality overlay. Then you'll learn surface preparation "best practices" including the most-effective techniques for patching, cracksealing, and cleaning the pavement surface. Next you"ll work, step by step, through the construction process, from tack coat application to hot mix asphalt placement and compaction. What you learn in this session will improve your overlays on your very next job!
8:00 AMW-6: Understanding Pavement Defects & Repair Options
James Curtis
Chec Management Systems, Inc.


3 Hour Workshop

Get more work, earn more money, and do a better job for your clients by making sure your pavement repairs treat the cause and not the symptom. An expansion and update of the popular "Understanding Pavement Defects" seminar, this new approach combines the principles of pavement design with a solutions-oriented approach to pavement defects to help you increase your success rate on pavement patches and repairs. You'll learn the causes and cure options for all types of pavement defects, you'll take home an understanding of how the pavement surface can give you insights into what's going on beneath the pavement, plus you'll learn the basics of pavement design so you can make the best-possible repair decision for your client. Take home put-to-work information you can use on every pavement repair or patching job!
10:00 AMB-13: Parking Lot Layout & Striping Basics
Robert Liles
Robert Liles Parking Lot Service


Laying out parking lots for striping follows a series of steps that need to be taken in the right order, and this new session by a veteran striping contractor lays it all out for you - starting from the beginning. You'll learn how to read specs and blueprints, what it means to "square up" a lot, the importance of a base line and how to find or establish one, how to create a perpendicular line and what you can do with it, how to create the various types of angled spaces - and more! Paint and equipment basics will also be covered, plus you'll learn what every striper needs to have in his truck to get every job done. If you want the basics of parking lot layout- for yourself or your crew members - this is the place. Striping veterans attend at your own risk!
10:00 AMB-14: Setting Strategy to Build Your Business
Jeff Stokes
Next Level Contractor System


Studies show that just 4% of all owners have a written plan for their business -- but this 4% makes 10 times more than the others. Building a business that has significant value requires more than hard work and luck. It requires the focused attention of all personnel toward planned strategies to achieve goals. In this session, you will learn how to develop a simple yet effective process of strategy formulation that will grow your business and keep you focused for the upcoming year. You'll learn the value of vision, mission, and strategy in daily activities; why trust is critical to development of strategy; how your past efforts impact your future plans. Plus, learn how to align resources to a strategic plan, and the value of planning on motivation and profits. An essential session for growing contractors.
10:00 AMB-15: Sweeper Safety and Operating Techniques that Protect Operators - And Your Business
Jim Green
Alamo Group


Every contract sweeper wants safer, more effective operators and this session by a certified training specialist will help you make that happen. You'll gain insights into how people learn new safety behaviors, how to use those insights to teach safety behaviors to your operators so they "get it," and how to train your operators in safety "Best Practices" of day-to-day sweeper operations - including operating techniques. You'll leave this session able to evaluate your sweeper operators' safety awareness knowledge, and able demonstrate the "best practices" of sweeper operator safety and operating techniques. Plus you'll take home a sample training workbook and a sweeper operator pre-operation sample checklist. A session every contract sweeper should attend!
10:00 AMB-16: Effective Compaction of Hot Mix Asphalt
Jim Scherocman, P.E., Consulting Engineer



Compaction is the single most important factor in the ultimate performance of a hot mix asphalt pavement. Achieving the proper air void content in the compacted mix makes the difference between a long-lasting asphalt overlay and one that fails prematurely, causing trouble and frustration for you (and your customer). This top-ranked session, by a highly-rated speaker, will help paving crews understand the basic elements of compaction and the use of various types of rollers, including static steel wheel, pneumatic tire, and vibratory steel wheel rollers. Effective compaction of both stiff and tender hot mix asphalt mixtures will be covered.
2:00 PMB-17: Executing Your Everyday Business Strategy Every Day
Guy Gruenberg
Grow Consulting


Don't just predict your future -- take control of it! Executing an average strategic plan is far better than not having one or than having a brilliant strategy that never gets acted upon. In this new session you'll learn the essential steps to make sure your strategic plan is carried out. You'll learn how to create a vision, how to create a brand that makes customers want to buy and prospective employees want to work for you, and how to take information from your "SWOT" analysis to create meaningful action plans to accomplish BIG GOALS! Plus, learn why in-depth market segmentation is so important, and how a competitive analysis helps you understand your niche markets. A unique part of this strategy session is identifying your Critical Success Factors. Business strategies are only effective if they are executed; this session will show you how to act on them.

* Schedule subject to change.