Commercial Contractors are Using the CSI Code to Market their Businesses
Mar 19, 2010 Anatomy of a Qual-Port
Craig Noble
Upcoming CSI Code Events In Your Area
JobSite123.com uses the CSI Code to provide a highly-detailed index of all of the companies in the commercial construction industry. So whether you are a contractor, material supplier or manufacturer - there are two important reasons that you should know all of the CSI Codes that your construction business services:
1. You want your Qual-Port to appear when Users are searching in your geographic location for companies that match the CSI Codes that your company services. For example, let’s say a User is searching JobSite123.com in CSI Division 26 for an Electrician to provide and install a Wind Energy Generator, and that’s one of your electric company’s specialties. Unless you attach your company to 26.32.23 Wind Energy Equipment, that prospect will not know of your availability and relevant qualifications.
2. You want your clients and prospects that are looking thru your Qual-Port to see the CSI Codes that your company services – including all of them they weren’t aware you handled. For example, let’s say your company is well-known as a quality interior framing and finishes contractor, but not as well-known for your exterior framing and finishing expertise. Unless you also attach your company to 05.10.00 Structural Metal Framing and 09.24.23 Portland Cement Stucco, that prospect will not know to consider your company for additional scopes of work on his project.
And remember to back-up your list of CSI Codes by entering specific experience information in your Projects Template and Performance Ratings Template – that’s what they are going to look at next.
My next post will address the online marketing power you have to leverage and cross-promote your business relationships using your Qual-Port’s Industry Connections Template.
Click here to read about the purpose of displaying your construction company’s Project Specializations in your Qual-Port.
How to Add/Edit your "Geographic Service Area"
Jan 22, 2010 Qual-Port How-To\'s, customer solutions
Your Geographic Service Area is defined by the selection of all U.S. Counties that your company competitively markets and performs services. It is a very important template within your company Qual-Port(s).
Why? Because your Geographic Service Area is one of the 2 templates within your Qual-Port(s) that controls where your company Qual-Port(s) will appear in the JobSite123.com search engine. (The other one is your Scope of Services by CSI Code.) To illustrate this, let’s look at an example: A JobSite123.com user performs a search for electrical contractors in Orlando, Florida. If you are an electrical contractor and your Geographic Service Area includes Orange County, Florida (where Orlando is located), then your company Qual-Port will appear in the search results.
So be careful to accurately select all of the U.S. Counties that apply to your company’s Geographic Service Area. Leave out a U.S. County that you actually service, and you may miss out on an opportunity for a prospective new client to find you in our search engine. Having said that, don’t “over-do it” and select U.S. Counties that you really do not competitively market and perform your services, as you will risk frustrating or alienating potential buyers in the commercial construction community.
Please read the following TIP before begining: If your company has multiple office locations, you should create a unique Qual-Port for each location. You can then designate the appropriate Geographic Service Area for each office location in each of your Qual-Ports.
To ADD/EDIT your Geographic Service Area:
1.) Go to www.jobsite123.com and logon with your username and password in the fields at the very top of the screen.
2.) From your welcome member landing page, look under the section entitled “MODIFY MY QUAL-PORT” and click on the name of your company. This will take you into your Qual-Port in edit mode, where you can get to work adding/editing your information.
3.) In the left-hand navigation menu in your Qual-Port, select “GEOGRAPHIC SERVICE AREA”.
4.) In the top right hand corner, click “EDIT THIS SECTION”.
5) To add a new state to your Geogrpahic Service Area, click on ”ADD A NEW STATE”.
6.) Select your desired U.S. State – to view a complete listing of all the U.S. Counties located within that U.S. State.
7.) Use the checkboxes to SELECT the U.S. Counties in your Geographic Service Area – and click on “SAVE CHANGES” at the bottom.
8.) To continue on to another U.S. State, click on “RETURN TO STATE SELECTION” and repeat the steps.
9.) To edit selections from a U.S. State that you have already added to your Geographic Service Area, simply click on “EDIT THIS STATE” and repeat the process.
Questions? Contact us at: solutions@JobSite123.com .
Construction Qual-Port Set-Up: Step 1 – The Start-Up Wizard
Jan 5, 2010 Qual-Port How-To\'s, customer solutions
No special computer programming or skills required!
If you can point, click and type – you can begin building your commercial construction company’s Qual-Port in JobSite123.com today. We have made the entire process super easy!
Follow these 5 simple steps to get started:
- 1. Logon to our homepage by clicking here: www.jobsite123.com
- 2. Register for a free account. (Don’t worry - it takes seconds. We only need your name, e-mail address and a password.)
- 3. Go back to your inbox to open an auto-generated e-mail from us. Click on the link provided to validate your correct e-mail address. (This shows us that you’re a real person, and not an evil spammer.)
- 4. You will now be logged in to your Welcome Landing Page. Near the lower right hand side, you will see an icon called “Create my FREE Qual-Port”. (Click on it. Don’t be scared.)
- 5. The Start-Up Wizard will open and walk you through a series of questions designed to capture the minimal amount of information required to maintain a company Qual-Port in our search engine. (It’s very basic stuff!)
HINT: You will breeze through the Start-Up Wizard in minutes if you know the following information before you begin:
- 1. Your company’s basic contact information (address, phone, website, etc.)
- 2. Your company’s geographic service area (by U.S. states and U.S. counties)
- 3. Your company’s service provider type (i.e. general contractor, specialty contractor, material suppler, etc.)
- 4. The CSI codes that apply to your company’s services (this is not as hard as it sounds – we can help you if you get stuck)
- 5. Contact information for at least one ”Key Contact” within your company (i.e. an executive, sales person, estimator, or whomever - you will be able to add as many as you want later)
After you complete the Start-Up Wizard - your Qual-Port will be visible to the entire commercial construction industry! You can now go on and continue enhancing all of the various templates in your Qual-Port. And stay tuned for more great tips….
Need further help getting started? Click on the big red FEEDBACK button on the left hand side of any page in JobSite123.com. Send us your questions – and we’ll shoot you the answers. If you would rather talk to a real live person - call our Customer Solutions Department at 954.581.2810 from 8:30am – 5:00pm EST.
Your Qualifications Land you the Job
Dec 10, 2009 commercial construction industry
Craig Noble
You already know to focus significant marketing efforts on maintaining awareness for your construction company. And you do a good job of keeping your company top-of-mind in your market area by networking and advertising in the right places. So now that you are accomplishing AWARENESS for your company, what’s next? Reminder: awareness is really only Step 1 toward your goal of getting more work. The next step is to get your company on the short list for a project. To accomplish this, you need to make your prior performance, experience and overall industry credentials (aka: your current qualifications) readily accessible to your relationships.
Think about it. If you are a contractor, supplier, accountant, etc. in the commercial construction industry, unless your company can SHOW that it walks the talk (the words from your networking and advertising), you will not likely be considered for the job. The time, quality and expense associated with a buyer going to contract with a company that turns out to be the wrong fit is devastating to the project and all of the companies involved. This is why buyers in our industry go through (or should go through) painstaking investigations before awarding work – detailed qualifications differentiate competitors.
