The President’s Perspective: October 2026
The President’s Perspective: October 2026
Matt Reed (General Manager, Barnhill Chimney)
Share
Listen to the audio article.
It’s no secret that COVID had an unprecedented impact on our industry. For a lot of companies, it was a brutal and stressful stretch. But as we rode out that wave, it also produced a boom that propped up our businesses for the next couple of years. For a long time, I figured that was it: the toughest challenge and biggest boom we’d ever see at once. If you want to know the truth, though, I no longer think that’s the case. Because over the last year or two, technology has advanced rapidly, the market has shifted dramatically, and a lot of the old rules I used to play by just don’t apply anymore. That’s why I truly believe the same kind of upheaval is in front of us again—with even bigger challenges and even greater rewards—especially when it comes to marketing, staffing, and technology.
Let’s start with marketing, since that’s where I noticed some major changes first. For years, our marketing was rooted in fear. When the calls stopped coming in or the door swings slowed down, we’d grab the marketing shotgun and fire at everything in sight, hoping to hit something. In 2025, we had a banner year—our best ever, in fact—and marketing helped us rebound from a slight slump in 2024. Still, it could have been even better with the marketing dialed in tighter, so I worked with my team to redo our website and diversify our Google spend. What we found is that every kind of job we sell needs four to five different channels feeding it, so we can dial any one of them up or down as the need arises. The reward has been bigger than any target the shotgun ever hit. For the first time ever, we have a retail associate who was at $1.2 million before the end of September. Here on the Mason-Dixon Line, that’s unheard of. In short, the marketing is now working wonderfully, and that’s exactly the problem: It’s outselling what I can produce, which has exposed a staffing challenge that I didn’t see coming.
Of course, this brings me to staffing, where the challenge has been the steepest. Earlier this year, I hired on historical data, and the numbers said I’d be primed and ready for the busy season. Then, for the first time in over a decade, the season started in August, and most of the guys I’d hired ended up being glorified helpers. Simply put, the jobs have changed because the customers have changed. Before the pandemic, we found that people wanted an estimate broken into smaller chunks; today, we’re finding that they want the whole thing all at once. If you would have told me a year ago that my close percentage would go up by offering a $20,000 roof on top of all the other work we do, I would have called you crazy. Yet that’s what’s been happening this year: Clients who wouldn’t accept a $30,000 bid on its own in the past will now write a 50% deposit for all of it at $50,000. That’s the reward, and it’s also the challenge: The bigger the job, the broader the skills, which is why I now need a jack of all trades—not a master of one—in most of my field positions.
Finally, finding and keeping a jack of all trades is where technology comes in—but again, it cuts both ways. It’s the reason hiring is harder than it’s ever been, and it’s the only way I see to fix it. With ChatGPT, there’s no excuse for a bad resume anymore, so the bad ones get cut immediately. But after that, from the entry-level employee to the top-dog expert, it’s very difficult to see the difference on paper, and applicants who Google our terminology come in sounding like they know the trade when they don’t. So if you’re spending more time than ever on recruiting, interviewing, and hiring for fewer results than ever, you’re not alone. The good news is that the same technology that’s making it harder to find the right people can also help us do more with the good ones we already have. To be clear, I’m not looking to replace anybody with AI. Instead, I’m looking for technology to reduce the number of additional people I need—now and in the future—so I can hold on to the best ones and pay them even better. If I’m being honest, I haven’t figured out how to pull that off yet, and it’s the biggest hole in my bucket right now.
At the end of the day, I think it’s going to get more difficult to do what we do. But I also believe the rewards of investing in marketing, staffing, and technology will far outweigh the costs. Anyone trying to stay the same size and just coast will struggle to swim in this pond, but the companies that pay what it costs to provide wonderful service, take care of their staff, and invest in their community can’t help but win. Whatever the economy does—goes up, goes down, or stays even—the need for our services is there, and half of the clients who buy from any of us are just thankful they found someone willing to do the work. That’s why the opportunity is yours—now and always—to distinguish yourself from others around you.
Want to get free content like this every month?
Matt Reed
Matt Reed is the general manager of Barnhill Chimney in Lexington, Kentucky.
