Your Company Narrative is the place in your Qual-Port that tells your clients and prospects who your company is and what your company stands for.  It’s important to not just write about how many years you’ve been in business, that you specialize in whatever projects and that you’re proud of the quality you provide.  This is the way most companies describe themselves, so you’ll have to include more information if you want your construction business to stand out from the crowd.  Besides, all of those points are already covered elsewhere in your Qual-Port.    

 It’s also important to keep in mind that sometimes Buyers break the tie in a bid comparison by looking at the intangibles of each company (company values, employee culture, community involvement, charities supported).  For example, the V.P. of Facilities at Baptist Health South Florida pays close attention to his resources’ Company Narrative to see if they provide healthcare coverage to their employees.

The content of your Company Narrative is another means to showcase your qualifications, so be thoughtful about what you display here, because it may mean the difference between you getting the job or your competitor getting the job.

My next post in this series will explain the importance of your Qual-Port’s Geographic Service Area.

Click HERE to read my previous post about your Qual-Port’s Key Contacts.

To display your awards in JobSite123:

1.) Login at jobsite123.com with your username and password.

2.) Find the name of your company under the heading “Modify My Qual-Port”, on the right-hand side of the screen. Click on it.

3.) In the left-hand navigation menu, click on “Awards & Recognition”.

4.) In the top right corner, click on the link marked “Add Awards”.

5.) Select the organization that presented the award from the “Award Issuer” drop menu. NOTE: If the organization that presented your construction award is not in the list, please e-mail us at organizations@jobsite123.com with the name of the organization and the title of the award.  We will contact you once we have added them into the system.

6.) Fill out the remaining fields. To upload a copy of the award in .pdf, .jpg or .doc format, click the button marked “Browse” in the Document Upload section. Locate the file on your hard drive, click on the file, then click “Open”.

7.) Click “Create”.

If the occupancy rate in your commercial building is falling, it may be due to the utility expenses your tenants are paying. Tenants lured away to occupy a similarly priced space that has been renovated to consume less energy enjoy an overall lower operating expense. Many Owners of multi-tenant retail centers, office buildings and industrial properties are using their cash on hand to invest in energy consumption renovations, and then marketing their buildings as less costly to occupy at the same market rental rate. And those that achieve a LEED designation are even more attractive to the growing number of environmentally conscious tenants. Owners of high energy consumption buildings that want to compete for tenants must choose to either reduce their rental rate or put your building on an energy consumption diet.

To edit your company’s general information:

1.) Login to JobSite123.com with the username andpassword for your Qual-Port account.

2.) From your Welcome Page, look under the heading “Modify My Qual-Port” and click on the name of your company.

3.) At the very top of the screen, to the right of your company’s name, click on “Edit this section”.

4.) Edit the fields that you wish to change.

5.) To upload your company logo, click the button marked “Browse” next to “Company Logo” under the heading “Company Media”. Locate the file on your hard drive, click on it, and click “Open”. Files can be a maximum of 175 x 175 pixels, and will be resized if they are larger.

6.) To display a video, you must first upload it to YouTube or a similar video sharing service. Once the video is uploaded, in YouTube, you will see a box labeled “Embed” to the right of the video window. Highlight all the text in this box, right-click and select “Copy”. Go to the Qual-Port edit screen, and paste it in the box next to “Company Video”.

7.) Scroll to the bottom and click “Save Changes”.

The purpose of your Qual-Port’s Key Contacts is not just to help your clients and prospects quickly find who they need to talk with at your company, this information also has significant value in your marketing efforts.  Displaying all of your Key Contacts allows Buyers to get an overall feel for your company – which can provide a competitive advantage among your commercial construction competitors.

Buyers want to know 3 things about your Key Contacts before they contact them:

1- Who they’re talking to (Job Title)
2- What their background is (Bio)
3- Alternative ways to contact them (Phone, Fax and Email)

Buyers are looking for the above info about your Key Contacts for 3 reasons:

1- They’re simply looking for the appropriate person in your company to help them with their need
2- They want to see if your company has the number of key people with the appropriate backgrounds that matches their project’s scope and type
3- They want to gauge the depth and stability of your construction business

When a Buyer sees the number and quality of people that you display in your Qual-Port, they understand the bond that you have with your Key Contacts – that there is no risk of them being lured to work elsewhere in the middle of their construction project.

It’s the people that work for your company that make it successful.  Showcasing your Key Contacts provides more information for Buyers to use when considering your company for their construction project.

My next post will explain the benefits of displaying your Qual-Port’s Company Narrative.

Click here to read my previous post about the benefits of your Qual-Port Homepage.

To edit your Safety Information:

1.) Login to JobSite123.com with your username and password.

2.) Under “Modify My Qual-Port”, on the right-hand side of the screen, look for the name of your company.

3.) In the left-hand nav bar, click on “Safety Record & Training”.

4.) To add a Safety Contact, click on either of the buttons on the right side of the screen - ”Add In-House Contacts” or “Add Out-Sourced

Contact”, whichever applies to you (possibly both).

5.) To edit your OSHA 300 Log Summary, click “Edit” at the bottom of each of the three columns. Enter all applicable information, then click “Submit”.

6.) To edit the Drug Policy section, click the button marked “Manage Drug Policy”. Then fill-in all relevant information and click “Save”.

7.) To upload additional safety documents such as a printed drug policy or safety training policy, click the button marked “Edit Safety Documents”, click “Browse” and locate the file on your hard drive, click “Open”, then scroll to the bottom and click “Save Changes”.

Think of your Qual-Port homepage like a retailer thinks of his storefront – the purpose is to get buyers to come inside and take a further look around.  Just like an eye-catching storefront is the first impression for retail shoppers, your Qual-Port homepage should entice prospects to quickly decide that they want to look for more qualifying information about your company.  Therefore, you should be mindful of the content that you display, because it may mean the difference between a prospective client contacting you about a project – or clicking away to view another Qual-Port. 

Your homepage has 3 information areas for you to use to draw visitors further into your Qual-Port:

Homepage Image

This is the first place your visitor’s eye will go.  Why?  Because it’s the biggest image on their screen – and, because everyone likes pictures.  Some companies simply display their logo here, while other companies display a rotating slideshow of their completed projects.  What works best is an image that introduces your company to someone that may not be aware of your capabilities – one that grabs their attention and encourages them to want to learn more.  Also - you should include a sentence or 2 from your company narrative where indicated…the purpose of this text is to help your company rank higher in the major search engines. 

General Company Info

This is the snapshot of information about your company that appears at the top of your Qual-Port.  It’s allows your prospects to quickly see that your company is a local player, how many years you’ve been in business, how many performance ratings you have, and other basic info that buyers consider when identifying resources for a project.   

Left Navigation Tabs

This one is simple…the Owners, Facilities Managers and GCs using JobSite123 know how many of these tabs are supposed to be displayed.  (Tabs without info do not appear.)  So when any of these industry buyers arrive on a Qual-Port that doesn’t have all of the tabs displayed, they leave and go on to another Qual-Port.  Why?  Because they know there are plenty of other companies in JobSite123 that are trying to get their attention with a completely filled-out Qual-Port.

Stay tuned…I will tell you the importance of your Qual-Port’s Key Contacts Template within the next couple days.

1.) Login to JobSite123 with your username and password.

2.) Under “Modify My Qual-Port”, on the right-hand side of the screen, look for the name of your company.

3.) In the left-hand navigation menu, click on “Subcontractor Information”.

4.) In the top right-hand corner, click on “Edit this section”.

5.) From the list of your key contacts, select the appropriate person(s) within your company that you want subcontractors to contact. Click “Save Changes” when finished.

6.) To upload qualification-related documents, click the button marked “Upload Documents”. Click on the button marked “Browse”, and locate the file you wish to upload from your hard drive. Click “Open”. In the field marked “Display Name for your file”, type a brief description of the document. Click the button labeled “Upload Documents”.

An additional benefit enjoyed by JobSite123’s users is the time-saving shortcut we built to help with the jobsite mobilization process. 

For any project location in the state of Florida (other U.S. States are being added soon), JobSite123 will tell you which Building Department, Water Department, Telephone Provider and Electric Company to contact.  But we didn’t stop there.  JobSite123 also provides links to the relevant pages within that municipality or utility’s website that you need.  So if there’s a staff page, applications page, fee schedule or any other that relates to permitting and setting up temporary utilities to serve your commercial construction project, they are also posted for you to easily click and follow.  All of the links in JobSite123 are current, because they are maintained by the municipalities and utilities.  So when they update their pages, the links in JobSite123 are automatically updated too.  All of this functionality is designed to save the time you used to spend finding and fumbling through all of those government and utility websites. 

Click here to see an illustrative example of HOW TO use this feature.

This is true – ESPECIALLY in the commercial construction industry, and ESPECIALLY in this challenging economy. 

Think about it – when a project is awarded, whether you are a general contractor or a specialty contractor, you want to do business with clients that are looking for the lowest QUALIFIED price.  As for those prospective clients that are simply looking for the lowest price…you don’t want to waste time in a price/bid competition to get a job with that type of client – too much risk on both sides.  A project staffed with low price contracting firms are very likely to either not be able to deliver the quality required, or they’re not going to be able to deliver the project on-time – or both.  The decision to award contracts based on price alone is short-sighted.  It may only take the non-performance of one company to spur a domino effect that causes the entire project to default.  Click here for more on the pitfalls of competing on price. 

Wanna stand apart from your competitors?  Completely fill-out and maintain current information in your Qual-Port, then email your direct URL link to all of your clients and prospects.  They will quickly see how your company stands above your competitors.