Closer's Camp 2026 · Grosso University

What Separates the Best.

Lessons and patterns from over 1,000 one-on-one interviews with the nation's top home improvement CEOs.

Presenter Greg Cummings

Role Founder & CEO, Power100

Date April 28, 2026

02 · The Story

The Champion Mindset

A conversation with Ryan Howard on what makes champions.

Same week. Same city. Two things stuck with me — a conversation with a Phillies legend about the relentless focus that separates winners, and walking through Citizens Bank Park where one of the companies we rank is on the scoreboard at the All-Star Game.

That's not a coincidence. The patterns we see at the top of this industry look exactly like the patterns that put Ryan Howard at the top of his.

Citizens Bank Park · MLB All-Star Week

Greg + RyanThe conversation that framed this talk.

PJ Fitz on the scoreboardWhere champions show up — and stay.

03 · The Pattern

1,000+ One-on-One CEO Interviews

After a thousand conversations with the people running the best companies in this industry, the same patterns keep surfacing.

01Leadership &
Alignment

02Disciplined
Growth

03Performance
Culture

04Consistent
Client Experience

05Community
Impact

04 · The Lens

Why Power100 Exists

We built the platform to find the truth.

The best companies in this industry deserve to be seen authentically — not just the ones with the biggest budgets.
Attention typically goes to those who spend the most, not those who operate the best.
Power100 is a true third-party, unbiased platform that identifies and elevates real leaders.
Over 10,000 contractors evaluated annually through a deep, multi-layer review process.
We measure leadership, employees, customers, operations, and outcomes — not surface-level metrics.

05 · The Market

What Winning Companies Do

The market doesn't create great companies — it reveals them.

Constant pressure from margins, lead flow, competition, and evolving customer expectations is the new normal.
Average companies slow down when things get difficult. Good companies protect what they have.
Great companies lean in and raise their standards when the market gets tougher.
The 1% we evaluate aren't isolated wins — they show a sustained, repeatable standard of performance.
Discipline, structure, and execution regardless of conditions — that's the through-line.

06 · Lesson 01

01 Lesson One

Leadership + Alignment.

Great companies are always a reflection of great leadership at the top.
Championship teams require alignment across players, coaches, leadership, and ownership.
Ownership must support, trust, and empower leadership for the company to reach its full potential.
That alignment creates consistency, confidence, and the ability to perform at a high level repeatedly.
Companies with this trait aren't just competing — they are leading.

Case in Point PJ Fitzpatrick's success starts with James Freeman and the clarity he brings — an example of ownership and leadership in lockstep.

07 · Lesson 02

02 Lesson Two

Disciplined Growth.

Growth isn't measured by revenue — it's measured by structure, repeatability, and discipline.
The best companies expand without losing their identity or lowering their standards.
Growth is achieved in a way that is sustainable and scalable long-term.
Disciplined growth is a defining trait of the best companies in the country.

Pattern When we walk into the top 1%, we see playbooks, not improvisation. Repeatable systems, not heroic effort.

08 · Lesson 03

03 Lesson Three

Performance Culture.

We don't reward surface-level culture — we evaluate culture that drives performance.
The top companies build environments where people are challenged, developed, and held accountable.
Employees aren't just working there — they are growing within the organization.
A strong sense of belief, pride, and ownership lives across the team — not just at the top.
This culture translates directly into performance, retention, and leadership development.

Pattern The companies that retain top talent in a tough labor market all share this: culture isn't a poster on the wall, it's how decisions get made on Tuesday.

09 · Lesson 04

04 Lesson Four

Consistent Client Experience.

Built on trust, consistency, and communication — at every touchpoint, every time.
The experience isn't dependent on one individual — it's delivered across the entire organization.
Customers know what to expect, and that expectation is consistently met or exceeded.
This level of consistency at scale is what separates elite companies from average ones.

Pattern When the same customer experience shows up in market 1 and market 12, you're not running a company — you're running a system.

10 · Lesson 05

05 Lesson Five

Community Impact.

The best aren't just growing revenue — they're growing impact in the communities they serve.
They invest in new markets and build lasting relationships, not transactional ones.
Each market becomes "home" because of the way the company shows up and contributes.
They support people, neighborhoods, and causes beyond the transaction itself.
This level of community engagement creates deeper trust and long-term loyalty.

Case in Point PJ Fitzpatrick treats every new market as a "PJ Home" — they show up, contribute, and earn the right to belong before they ask for the sale.

11 · The Challenge

The Win-Again Challenge

Winning once is hard. Winning again is harder.

Companies at the top are now being watched, studied, and chased by everyone else in the market.
At this level, the greatest risk isn't competition — it's complacency.
The leaders who stay there treat #1 as a starting line, not a finish line.
Standards, communication, and accountability cannot drop. Not for a quarter. Not for a week.
Every individual must own the responsibility to maintain and elevate performance.
The goal isn't to hold the position — it's to strengthen and expand it.

March 17, 2026 · WBC

USA were the favorites. Then they weren't. The same dynamic plays out at the top of every industry.

12 · The Future

The Next Pattern

GEO & AI Search — the next divide.

The way customers discover, trust, and choose home improvement companies is rapidly shifting due to AI-driven search.
Customers aren't browsing through 10 options anymore — they're being given a single direct answer.
The companies that show up in those answers will win the next phase of this industry.
The smart leaders are already building Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — articles, videos, PR, structured authority — for every market and service they offer.
When customers ask AI who the best company is, the answer doesn't get awarded — it gets earned.

What's Coming In 24 months, "Google rankings" and "AI search results" will be the same conversation. The companies preparing for it now are the ones we'll be ranking #1 then.

13 · The Question

For This Room

These five patterns are what we see across the rooms we walk into. The question isn't whether they apply to your company.

The question is — are you building toward them?

Get Evaluated power100.io

Power100 evaluates 10,000+ home improvement and home services companies a year. If your company belongs in the conversation — start there.