Prospecting for More Commercial Work
Getting your commercial contracting business noticed by more local building owners can be a challenging undertaking. And with that, it also uses a good bit of your time and resources. This can be tough on any small to mid-size construction firm. As with most of the contractors I speak to, they typically don’t like the whole selling and marketing fluff. They’d much rather be on a jobsite or reviewing drawings of their next project. However, we all know that if we want to thrive in the construction industry, finding new business is key to your growth. Though your sales pitch and service offerings are probably different than Connex Property, I believe there are simple and universal tenets that contractors, who don’t like the selling process, can use to win more work.
But first, let’s keep this simple. You want to win more projects and expand your company’s reach. And to do this you need to sell more to commercial property owners. Selling, to be blunt, isn’t rocket science, however, there’s a 6-letter word that does make it challenging: Timing. Timing, though, not discussed all that much, will affect almost every aspect of your deals, as well as your prospect’s behavior. For example, you have contacted a property manager to discuss your services and they have said a clear, ‘not interested.’ But a few months down the road you get a call from that same manager, and now they have a problem that you can solve. In sales, you rarely get an immediate result, and every potential deal and project is all about timing!
Below are Three core sales tenets, if done with consistency, will help contractors build up their pipelines so there is never a Timing issue. The whole idea is to draw up enough sales activity that creates a supply chain of continuous projects to bid on.
1. Warm/Cold Calling & Networking: Start to lay the groundwork for consistent sales outreach. This includes calling on current customers, as well as cold calling new ones. Get out of the office or off the jobsite and attend a networking event. Successful selling is a full contact sport, but can also be achieved in small increments too. For example, start making 10-20 cold calls per week and attend a network event once a month. You’ll be amazed at how small goals turn into big opportunities.
2. Referrals: Call on your current network of colleagues and friends. Ask them if they can connect you to anyone who may have a need for your service. Contracting deals tend to move much faster if both parties know each other and have a good relationship.
3. Spread the word ONLINE: Maintain an interesting online profile. Don’t be afraid to post on-line about your business success. Use LinkedIn or Facebook to get the word out. Also, think about putting out some helpful construction content to your audience as well.
With all this added together, in time, you will begin seeing serious progress. It’s not easy to do all this at once, so start small. Get on the phone and make a call or two. Or perhaps jump online and upload some pictures of a successful project you just completed. The building world will not know who you are if you don’t engage with it. So, start today!