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 Build
Business By Building
Relationships
There has never been a time when marketing for the construction
industry was so important. However, those of us who are
involved in this crucial aspect of business development are
acutely aware that the industry has been notorious at making
huge blunders in its marketing efforts!
On of the top five blunders people in the construction industry
make when trying to grow business, is in the way it deals with
prospective and current clients.
Most business development professionals recognise that all
marketing for construction begins and ends in one simple
principle - knowing how to build relationships.
It is at least 5 times easier to win a new contract from an
existing
client than to go out and find a new one! That is not to say that
we should not be extending our client base – that is essential for
ongoing company growth and to ensure a healthy sales pipeline.
However, if you are producing good quality work, you should find
that 70% to 80% of your turnover comes either directly from
current or past clients, or from referrals and recommendations
from clients you’ve worked for. You need to spend a lot of time
developing relationships with these key people – they can
become your best marketing tool.
Current and past clients are like gold dust to your business. Your
existing client base also forms potential sales revenue for “back-
end” products and services.
If you have no track record with your potential client, you need
to
be able to demonstrate that you are trustworthy. Endorsements
and testimonials from people you have built relationships with,
are crucial to substantiate this. It is also important to be
available
to your prospects so that they can have a face to face meeting
with you – even at the highest management level of your
company. This will build confidence and reassurance because
they are dealing with a real person and not just a marketing
consultant with an ulterior motive!
There are many ways that relationships can be built:
- Run a Lunch Club for your project team at completion.
- Hold Continuous Professional Development Training
Seminars with guest "experts" in the industry
- Promise less, deliver more
- Make sure there are open lines of communication
- Give you workforce "Customer Relationship" Training
- Distribute a high content newsletter
- Open a Social Networking forum
- etc., etc.,
As a professional "marketing for construction" consultant, I am
applying these strategies every day - and they get results!
Steve Flashman
(This article is copyright but may be
reproduced as long as the copyright owner,
Steve Flashman, is acknowledged as the author and the following
website link is included:
http://www.makingconstructionwork.com) |
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