What Are Your Top Two Business Priorities?

Finding customers and keeping customers should be your construction business's top two priorities

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In my opinion, business is simple. The two most important priorities are to find customers and then keep customers. Finding customers involves everything to keep profitable revenue coming in the door. Finding customers includes: sales, marketing, estimating, presenting proposals, customer appreciation, schmoozing, networking, and what you do to build loyal customer relationships. This area is often overlooked in construction businesses. Most construction company owners focus on bidding work and then getting it done. As a top priority, finding customers cannot be delegated easily. Customers want to know who they are doing business with.

Keeping customers is all about doing a good job and meeting your customer’s expectations and contractual requirements. This top priority is an outcome of a well organized and systemized operation led by a professional management team and well trained employees. This area of your company can be managed by a professional management team that implements your business mission, philosophy, organizational systems and procedures. But, without great systems in place, delegating operational tasks is impossible.

Hire pros to grow

The fastest way to get your company organized and focused on keeping customers is to hire the best and give them the task of getting the work done. Great people do cost more money but take less time to manage than weaker ones. Plus, you’ll never be able to get your business to grow beyond the capacity of your top people. Why haven’t you hired management professionals to help grow your business? Where do you need the most help: accounting, operations, estimator, superintendent, project manager, or office manager? Professionals will make you money. You can’t continue to do it all yourself.

Put your priorities to work

Don't just talk about it, get started and do it! Continually ask yourself if what you’re doing is a good use of your time and money. When you do things you shouldn’t be doing or don’t like doing, your business becomes a drag. Activities which are not rewarding drain your energy. Exciting tasks and activities which are included in your top priority list are rewarding and actually invigorate and give you more energy. When you are moving towards your goals, improving your business and seeing progress, you will get excited about your future. What are your top two business priorities? Will you stay focused on them? Change how you do your business. Get what you want and adjust your calendar. Always remember that your #1 priority is to keep your #1 priority your #1 priority!”

George Hedley works with contractors to build profitable growing companies. He is a professional business coach, popular speaker and best-selling author of “Get Your Construction Business To Grow & Profit!” available online at www.HardhatPresentations.com. To sign-up for his free e-newsletter, attend a BIZ-Builder boot camp, be part of a coaching program, or get a discount coupon for online classes at www.HardhatBizSchool.com, e-mail [email protected]

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