The company, as and whole, and the operations side of your business must deliver
Make sure the company has and everyone in the company knows the core values. Have a target market you are equipped to handle. Make sure a major part of the core values is delivering the best-in-class product and service.
How you do your business matters. Create a business plan that is built around your company’s core values. Most importantly you must stick to it. In addition to that, pay close attention to the minor details such as your business logo, identity of your brand, the position of your business and how customers perceive it. It matters a lot in the long run. Everything about your company, product and process must say that you deliver Value.
Also, it is important to justify the amount you charge for the services you offer. It is obvious that you will have more clients when you are charging a fair price for the value you deliver. The trick is to do comprehensive market research and offer the clients a price that matches the value you teach them to expect. Then deliver better than they expect. Everyone talks about what their contractor did to them. Your job is to make your clients talk about what you did for them. This will help in keeping the customers happy and you will get more business via referrals. Always ask for referrals.
Give importance to the customer
Consistently and timely communication with the customer and all people trying to communicate with your company is critical.
When you are paying heed to the competitors, you must also pay equal attention to the customers. Meeting the requirements of the customer is more important and these days it is not always easy to please the customer. You can’t retain customers with just a good product, competitive pricing and good service. In the construction business, you must show that you know your job well and are constantly evolving. One way to do so is by using construction estimating software. It may be an investment, but it is definitely worth it. The returns would be many times the amount invested. Keep the needs of the customer in mind and proceed accordingly because whatever you do, if you are not able to get customers, you can’t survive in the industry.
Keep your word
Make sure that the job is done better than the customer expected.
Bring the job in on time and under budget.
Make sure the customer knows you as punctual, dependable, and clean.
Two factors play a crucial role in the construction world and they are cost and time. When you try to save time, you have to use methods that can increase the cost and when you try to keep the cost under check, you tend to increase the time taken to complete the job. In short, when cost decreases, the time increases and vice-versa. The point is that when you commit your client to the completion period or the cost involved, you must stick to your word. If you project gets delayed, you will earn a bad reputation. Similarly, the cost estimate has to be close to what you committed or else people will not trust you thereafter. It is hence important to cross-check before making a commitment and you must see that they are met. You can’t afford to go back on your words and thereby take every factor into consideration.
This is one reason why there is use of estimating software in construction. It will help you make a more precise cost estimate.
Make sure your people are the best for the job
Continual training of your people on whatever aspects of your trade will make you stand out. If your people are up to par your get the job done faster, better and easier. If you are not willing to keep the right trained people you get what you pay for in reruns, missed deadlines, shoddy work and you can imagine the rest of the list.
Have good people skills
At the end of the day, it all depends on how you deal with people. If you have the required soft skills, you can see your business flourish. People skills are extremely important when it comes to employees and clients. When you are having a good relationship with your employees, you are creating a better environment for them at work and as a result, they will be able to interact better with clients.
With good people skills, you can earn a good reputation. It goes without saying that, earning goodwill is tougher than earning money. Once you are in the good books of your clients, it will benefit you in the long run. Taking personal interest in clients will make them feel good and chances are high that they will come back to you the next time as well. This further validates the fact that being customer friendly is important. Also, when a client comes back to you, you must reward them for their loyalty so that you retain the customer.
End the job on an upbeat
Leave the customer an unexpected, inexpensive but memorable gift as a signature at the end of the job – a bouquet of beautiful roses may do.