Creative Commercial Construction Companies Thrive in Any Economy
Apr 12, 2010 commercial construction industry, marketing tips
Craig Noble
Considering the precarious economy that the commercial construction industry is experiencing these days, it can be difficult to see the opportunities. However, just like successful Wall Street traders make money when the market is moving (up or down), the same can be said for creative construction and real estate-related business owners and executives. Skeptical? Read on.
The real estate market is not dead. It’s not growing, but there is movement. The activity surrounds banks that are taking properties back from owners that can no longer pay the commercial property debt. And until banks loosen up their purse strings and make business lines of credit and construction loans accessible again, rising vacancy rates will perpetuate this change in ownership. Sounds like more bad news, right? Not necessarily.
Banks are not experienced commercial real estate owners – their business is evaluating financial risk and lending money to commercial real estate owners. Generally speaking: banks know good credit risk concerning locations and tenants, but they know little about how to manage buildings/properties, design/build enhancements, or how to attract good tenants. Therefore, the opportunity for your construction or real estate-related business lies in your ability to get their attention with the help you can provide them in any of these areas. Once you do, give them some free advice to validate your experience, then perform as promised for a fair fee. Sounds simple, right? It can be.
For example, a prominent full-service real estate developer here in South Florida had bank representatives lined-up to lend them money – until recently. And with the economy stalling, they are now getting creative with their business development efforts by calling on those former lenders as their prospective clients. Their pitch is simple: we can help you with design, renovations and property management expertise that will get your newly acquired buildings occupied. This is a smart move for both sides, and strengthens their relationship going forward.
The above example is only one idea. First, change your mind about the gloom and doom market we are in. Then, let your creativity and execution pull your company through this difficult time.
What Is Your Commercial Construction Company Obsessed With?
Mar 30, 2010 marketing tips
Coty Fournier
I hope every design and construction professional finds this post and shares it with everyone they know whose out there trying to survive or thrive in this market. I just read a fantastic book called Rework. It was written by the founders of a highly successful software company called 37 Signals, and it will inspire you to rethink the way you run your design or construction company. It’s a quick read with no B.S. and it punches you right in the face with unconventional advice on everything from the way you should handle your hardest-working employees to the way you should treat your biggest customers.
Although I see many applications to the architectural design, engineering, and construction communities throughout this book, there are a few sections that really spoke to me as I look back to the various positions that I have held in my career on both sides of our industry’s buy-sell equation – as well as my current role helping companies to market themselves on the web with JobSite123.com.
One of these is a section on the out-dated, ineffective, waste-of-everyone’s time called the company Mission Statement – and all of the related narratives that are strewn together to supposedly represent who you are as a company. If every company’s mission statement and descriptive narratives are meant to help the customer understand who you are and what you stand for (relative to all of your competitors) – then why do they all look identical? (Gasp! It’s true!) Read yours. And then read what your competitors write about themselves. Swap out your company names and see if there is any real difference. We just don’t like to admit the similarity because we are all sincerely passionate about our own firms and our desire to do right by our customers. But in the end, we literally describe our services in a “commodity-like” fashion and then sit around frustrated when we are treated like commodities.
The problem isn’t in the intention. It’s in the cliché. Virtually every construction company on the planet has a mission statement that references the following 4 things: (1) high-quality work, (2) delivered on schedule, (3) on budget (4) by experienced people. Sound familiar? Of course it does. It’s so familiar – it’s expected – and therefore provides no differentiation whatsoever. Those 4 things are now the assumed end product, not the service you are pledging to provide during the process. So what does that mean for commercial construction companies out there? It means you are now forced to define the service you provide in an entirely different way.
Can you do it? Can you tell a compelling short story about who you are and what you do without referencing anything about quality, schedule, budget or the experience of your people? If you can – scrap your mission statement and descriptive narrations and write a 30-second commercial about that and be done with it. Frame that 30-second commercial around every RFQ submittal, sales presentation and marketing pitch you make. If you can’t get away from using those 4 words – you may be in trouble.
Need help? Another section of Rework could point you in the right direction. It talks about defining what the people in your company are obsessed with doing – as opposed to what they are committed to doing. Obsession is a much more emotional word and therefore evokes an entirely different experience. When someone is obsessed with doing something, there is a compulsive and relentless automation to their behavior that drives a pretty predictable outcome. You don’t want to bet against an obsessed person. They’re freakishly successful. Shakespeare was obsessed with the elegance of the written word. Einstein was obsessed with the nature of light. Larry Bird was obsessed with mastering the outside jump shot. Steven Spielberg is obsessed with mesmerizing story-telling. Zappos.com is obsessed with phenomenal customer service. Apple is obsessed with producing killer technology that people want.
At JobSite123.com, we have obsessions. Here are some of ours to help inspire you to identify yours:
- We are obsessed with free. With every new feature or functionality, we bust-ass to figure out how we can deploy it to our customers for free. While most companies are trying to figure out how to charge their customers for something – we find a way to make things free.
- We are obsessed with answers. We want every user to find instant answers to their most common qualification questions. This requires an obsession with knowing the most common questions and creating an opportunity for users to provide their answers.
- We are obsessed with cool. When someone is looking at JobSite123 for the first time – we want one of their emotions to be “Wow! This is cool.” Cool makes people want to tell others.
The idea is to identify what your people are obsessed with doing better than any possible competitor. Whatever they are obsessed with doing, they will do naturally with ease, and attract other like-minded people to join your team. You don’t have to be a movie-maker or a technology company to incorporate this philosophy into your marketing plan – the same rules can apply to your architecture, engineering or contracting firm. Most companies get it backwards. They identify the customers they want and then try to “window dress” their people and their credentials to appear highly qualified in the eyes of those prospective customers. Do the opposite. Identify, celebrate and empower your people’s natural obsessions. And then look for those customers who value those obsessions. When a customer values something and you can prove that you are obsessed with delivering it better than anyone else – they will bet on you.
Wise Construction Companies Do Not Compete on Price
Jan 7, 2010 commercial construction industry
Craig Noble
As I come into contact with more owners and executives of established commercial construction companies, I’ve noticed that they operate with a certain swagger. And they appear to be able to navigate their companies through any economy. They have built strong company qualifications over a history of more right than wrong decisions. They consider their projects successful when word-of-mouth creates more projects for them. They maintain business relationships that create introductions to other valuable relationships. And they provide quality products or services at a fair price. All of these characteristics strengthen their company’s reputation, which they protect at almost any cost, because they know it’s their reputation and qualifications that get them through the tough times. When the economy slows and some companies start trying to compete with unrealistic prices, the established companies know it’s the beginning of a cyclical shakeout that puts the reckless and foolish out of business.
And when they are not awarded a job because of price, their reaction often sounds like this:
“We were uniquely qualified for that job, and we should have gotten it.”
“That job can’t be done for that contract amount.”
“The company that got the job is gonna make a mess for (respected client).”
“I hope that company doesn’t cause overall harm to (respected client) when that company goes under trying to finish the job.”
Established commercial construction companies have earned their swagger weathering the boom and bust economies, and they are almost never the lowest bidder. An unrealistically low bid on a project is a sign of a rookie mistake or a desperate company. In either case, the GC or Construction Manager that goes to contract with an unrealistically low bidder is signing up to play the change order game – or they are agreeing to a compromise in schedule and quality of work.
JobSite123.com helps GCs, Construction Managers and Owners manage the risk associated with the proper prequalification of resources…while simultaneously providing an online means for established companies (and the smart rookie companies) to showcase their qualifications and reputation. The wise construction industry leaders recognize the value of building their company Qual-Port for their own business development efforts – and to help their clients.
Qual-Ports = Awareness + Answers
Dec 3, 2009 commercial construction industry
Coty Fournier
LESSON: If you make Joe Buyer wait or work too hard to weed you in – he will be forced to weed you out.
Attention Jack Seller! Awareness is no longer enough - Joe Buyer needs answers and fast.
Calling all commercial construction companies out there chasing work! As an industry, we all collectively spend billions of dollars every year nurturing our existing relationships, pursuing new ones and just plain trying to get our name out there – with a frustratingly low ROI. Even the best of the best can’t escape the ineffectiveness of our most common sales and marketing methods. And would you believe the results have little to do with the economy?
To explain why, lets take a look at things from the perspective of Joe Buyer and see what we can learn. Imagine Joe Buyer up on his soapbox speaking to all the Jack Sellers out there, from the heart, with a sincere desire to help. Let’s listen in on Joe….
“It is in our best interest to attract highly-qualified and competitive construction companies to work on our projects. You are an important part of our success equation. Let me help you to help me – so you can improve your chances. Here are some reasons why the most typical sales and marketing methods are not as effective as they could be:
- Your websites are not always as helpful as you might think – whether I find them or not. At their worst, they tell me your company name and contact information and leave me no compelling reason to call you. At their best, even professionally designed and expensive websites, with pretty pictures and carefully crafted messages might make me consider calling you – if they contained all of the answers to my questions that I need first – which they don’t – so I don’t. Sorry, I know we all thought websites were going to be the magic bullet.
- Your emails are not always as helpful as you might think– whether I read them or not. At their worst, they are unsolicited and get deleted. At their best, I might recognize your company name, and scan through your email looking for the information I need, and take the bait on your embedded web- link (refer back to #1). Sorry, I know emails are the quickest and easiest form of communication.
- Your print ads are not always as helpful as you might think– whether I see them or not. At their worst, they tell me your company name and phone number and leave me no compelling reason to call you. At their best, they make me aware of you for a second, and they might make me consider calling you – if I had all of the information that I need about you first – which I don’t – so I don’t. Sorry, I know print ads are very expensive.
- Your online ads are not always as helpful as you might think – whether I see them or not. At their worst, they leave me no compelling reason to click on them. At their best, they compel me to click through to your website (refer back to #1). Sorry, I know online ads with a link to your website were supposed to be another magic bullet.
- Your phone calls are not always as helpful as you might think – whether I take them or not. At their worst, they are interruptive and waste my time. At their best, they might be helpful, if I had all of the information that I needed about your company first – which I don’t – so they aren’t. Sorry, I know it isn’t easy to pick up the phone and ask for work.
- Even your referrals from past clients or peers are often ineffective – whether they reach me or not. At their worst, they are referring me to you when I don’t have a need for you. At their best, I might be looking for you, but the person referring you cannot provide me with all of the information that I need – which puts me back to work looking for it. Sorry, I know everyone thinks that referrals are the Holy Grail of sales.
Do you see the pattern here? All of these sales and marketing methods DO create awareness for you. BUT unless awareness leads to immediate answers to my questions – the awareness will fade fast. It’s true. Your efforts would be MUCH more effective if all of the information that I need to qualify your company were readily accessible at the time you have my attention. ”
So what does ‘readily accessible’ mean to Joe Buyer in today’s market? It means 5 things:
- - allow him to find the answers to ALL of of his questions
- - on his own
- - on the internet
- - in seconds
- - for free
ANSWER: Build and maintain a complete Qual-Port on JobSite123.com. And make sure that all of your sales and marketing activities lead Joe Buyer directly to it.
