What makes you different?

We’re going to talk about differentiating yourself in this week’s episode of the Construction MPa Podcast. The critical word here is you because you and your business are joined at the hip. You’ll never get to show off your skill, trade, or service if your potential client doesn’t buy into you first. When you rock, so does your business.

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Disclaimer: This Podcast is for Construction Industry Business Owners who want to hear the truth no matter how much it might sting. If you’re looking for nicey, nicey leadership advice? Best you watch a TED talk!

One of the same

Rightly or wrongly, a client will directly tie your actions, attitude, and body language to your company’s competency. Therefore your initial interaction with a potential client must be on point.

Would you hire you? If someone came to your home to quote a job and acted the way you did, would you hire them? Would you trust them? Would they reassure you that they know the score?

There’s always that initial standoff when we first meet a client for the first time. There’s a barrier up, and we can’t truly connect with them until it comes down.

The right actions, attitude, personality, and professionalism will down that barrier. Then we can get to business talk freely and genuinely because we’re on the same page.

Blocking and tackling

How do we get that barrier down? The basics:

Return calls the same day.
Respond to messages the same day.
Speak professionally.
Be punctual.
Look professional (not like a banker, just clean).
Listen more than we talk.
Ask lots of questions.
Reference codes, specs, and product knowledge.
Highlight previous projects.
Bring a pen, notepad, and tape measure! Then use them.
Drop-in conversation on how you prioritize ‘Investing’ in training and certification.
Always ask if there are any questions or concerns.
Provide your quote when you said you would.
Ensure you email your quote.

All of the above helps lower the barrier, strengthen the connection, and enable you to increase your mark-up percentage before they’ve even seen the quality of your work!

Doing the job should be the easy bit.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ‘You’ are the differentiating factor for your company. Never let the quality of your work interfere with how you generate your work. Just because you’re good doesn’t mean people will open their wallets for you! You can directly affect the amount of business your company gets and the profitability of those jobs through your actions, attitude, and energy.

Program vs. Podcast?

The Construction MPa Program is an entirely different beast than the Construction MPa Podcast. However, it was ultimately built with the same end goal in mind, too:

A) Help small business owners strengthen their businesses themselves via a step-by-step process.

B) To provide a home for small business owners to openly discuss the challenges they face in a sales and bullshit-free environment.

If you want to know more about the Construction MPa Program, check out: Program Outline Page.

Business Owners Only.