Commonwealth Contractor | January 201022

Issue 10 MARKETING

CapitalizeMarket

ReboundsWhen the

With Business Development and Marketing that Means Business

By Angie Gutenson

Our industry has changed forever. Rebound, we will. Recover, we will. However, nobody is expecting unbridled growth anytime soon. Chances are you already have the tools in place to take advantage of this new, modest market. You just need to know how to harness those tools and make them pay off.

Create a Positive BuzzYes, get lean and mean. But don’t eliminate activities that bring in work. Those firms that attempt to hibernate through the downturn will find their reputation and relationships damaged. What do you think when you notice that a client, competitor or subcontractor has been missing from the networking scene? You assume they are hurting, don’t you? It doesn’t take a marketing degree to understand how a negative buzz in the market can hurt you right now.

Perform a Brand Audit

Know Where You Stand A keen awareness of the company brand, its image and the

marketing and business development tools used to open doors and gain market share is necessary for today’s construction leaders.

You are going to need to gain perspective on your strengths, weak-nesses, opportunities and threats. Involve the whole team. Sharing and discovering perceptions is the crux of a good brand audit.

Link Your Strategic Plan to Marketing and Business Development The first step of a good brand audit is to dust off that strategic plan and share it with key employees. If those employees engaging in mar-keting and business development do not understand your strategic plan, how do you expect them to help you get where you want to go? Your strategic plan should be simple, clear and communicated often.

Authenticity is key to succeeding in creating relationships. Your staff cannot be authentic in selling your company to potential cli-ents if they do not fully understand what you bring to the market-place; so your strategic plan should be simple, clear and commu-

Here’s to 2010 … scrounging for tenant work … bidding against the big kids on the block and the trunk slammers for the same work … all while realizing that profit has gone by the wayside … Cheers!

Commonwealth Contractor | January 2010

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Issue 10 MARKETINGnicated often. If you do not have a strategic plan ask “What do we want to be known for?” and arm your marketing and business developers with the answer.

Perform a Market AnalysisQuickly. Write down everything you know about the current market.

What are the changing trends? Consid-• er workforce, government/regulation, material prices, interest rates, vacancy rates, burgeoning markets, dying mar-kets, competitors’ business practices, etc. Are you the market share leader? • What drives the market now and what • will drive it tomorrow? What segments are growing? • What is drying up? • Who is your desired customer? • How strong is your prospect list and • who are you targeting? Is the data you collect used to the full-• est potential? What makes money for your business? • What type of work yields the most re-• peat business? Who has money right now? •

This is not a test. Just sit down and crank out the answers; no research necessary. Share what you discovered with your team and get their perspective. The result is a market analysis that is better than any con-sultant could provide.

Gather Competitive IntelligenceHave you found yourself squaring off against new competitors? Changes in the market happen fast and a new competitor can sneak up on you.

Determine whom you are competing with and examine their greatest strengths and weaknesses.

How do you measure up? • Where do you clearly succeed and • where do you consistently fail. Are you losing or gaining ground? • Take a general assessment of their •

website and marketing collateral. Do they represent themselves better?Is there any sign of a major leadership • or strategy change? What are people saying about them? • Are they in the news? •

Do a Quick SWOT Consider devoting a regular staff meeting to a quick SWOT analysis once every quar-ter. Put four quadrants up on the board and open the floor for staff to share what they think are the company’s Strengths, Weak-nesses, Opportunities and Threats. Sleep on the results and then get a copy of what you learned in front of your team.

Create Your Brand Message

Sell What Your Customers are BuyingFeatures are the characteristics of your product or service. Benefits are what your customers will derive by using those fea-tures. Fed-Ex sells overnight delivery but their customers are buying peace of mind.

One of the best examples of this concept is the electric drill. The hardware store thinks they are selling electric drills – drills with automatic bit feed, wider parabolic flute style and cobalt construction. Are these the reasons you buy a drill, for the parabolic flute? Chances are you buy a drill because you want holes. Accurate holes, fast holes, holes of many sizes, holes in many materials. They are selling a drill but you are buying holes.

Do you know what your customers are buying? It might not be what you are sell-ing them. Get inside your client’s mind and you will be ahead of your competitors.

Establish Your Deliverable PromiseWhy does your firm exist in the market-place? ABC-VA’s deliverable promise is to provide education, political advocacy, net-working and service to our members. Every staff person in our organization knows our deliverable promise and it is the foundation of all of our marketing.

A deliverable promise must be clear, en-gaging and relevant to the client. Think of BMW. Their promise is to be the “ultimate driving machine”. The key is to make sure your promise is in fact deliverable; it is bet-ter to under-promise and knock their socks off than to over-promise and disappoint.

Discover Your Distinct Advantage There are many associations in the state of Virginia. At ABC, the staff and volunteer leaders know that our group is unique be-cause we are based on a philosophy of free enterprise, serve all players in the construc-tion industry equally and are the leader in educating the future workforce of the in-dustry. That is our distinct advantage and what sets us apart from our competitors.

To determine your distinct advantage, go back to your brand audit and write down everything your competitors offer the mar-ketplace followed by what your company brings to the table. There will be a good deal of duplication between what you and your competitors are known for; identify what benefits you have that your competi-tors lack and you have found your distinct advantage.

Communicate Your Unique Brand MessageArmed with your deliverable promise and

What do you think when you notice that a client, competitor or subcontractor has been missing from the networking scene? You assume they are hurting, don’t you? It doesn’t take a marketing degree to

understand how a negative buzz in the market can hurt you right now.

Commonwealth Contractor | January 201024

Issue 10 MARKETINGyour distinct advantage, your team can clearly communicate your company’s brand message. They may put their own personal spin on how they communicate, but you will know that the basis of the word-of-mouth buzz they put on the street is exactly what you want it to be. Your brand will come alive and permeate through all points of customer contact from marketing collat-eral, to face-to-face, phone, email, website, even your physical office space.

Get Inside Your Customer’s Head

You know where you stand in that market, who your competitors are and how you benefit your clients. You even have a de-liverable promise and a distinct advantage. But how well do you know your clients?

Can you describe your target customer •or job? Do you know what your clients really •want from you? What motivates your customer? Most •

likely, it is money, time/schedule, qual-ity/image/ego/passion or peace of mind.

Every client is different. Get into your clients’ heads and tailor your message to their desires.

If you can identify what your client is really trying to buy, it is more likely you will win the job and close it out with a satisfied client. Both the bottom line and the schedule are al-ways important; but depending on the client, one is likely more important than the other. It is also not unheard of for a client to have a passion or desire for a certain level of quality that supersedes money, schedule or both.

If you walk into a proposal emphasizing what you are selling … “Our company has been in business for 20 years, we have a great reputation for building on time and on budget” … you will sound like all the rest. What you are selling is not necessar-ily what your client is buying. You need to

get inside the client’s mind, determine what their passion is and cater to it.

The better you understand your client’s reasons for wanting something, the better equipped you are to help them with a great solution. If you keep your finger on the pulse of what your clients want and make sure you have the ability to deliver, the op-portunities will come.

Assign Marketing and Business Development to the Right People

Most in our industry think business development and marketing are one in the same. It is important to understand that these are two distinctly different tools. Marketing is facade, awareness and attraction; it is brochures, websites, public relations and advertising.

To the contrary, business development is relationships, charisma and the opening of

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Commonwealth Contractor | January 2010 25

Issue 10 MARKETINGdoors. It is the process of collecting, tracking and analyzing information in the pursuit and acquisition of new work. When done right, the business development effort is pervasive throughout the organization, a permanent fixture in the landscape of the company cul-ture and is evaluated on a regular basis and tracked against the strategic plan.

It is rare that the same individual excels at both marketing and business development. Creative types who like to be behind the scenes excel at marketing. Those with a high level of business acumen and person-ality excel at business development.

Some of your operations staff may be able to double as business developers. In fact, those with the right personality will yield the best results. But use caution; avoid blindly assigning business development duties throughout the ranks. Put your so-cial types out there carrying the company banner. Business development only works when the vehicle is a confident individual with charisma and an understanding of the benefits your company has to offer and how to convey them.

Fundamental Marketing Tools

Exist on the WebHaving a website is an expectation today. It does not need to be glamorous; keep it simple and updated. Demonstrate your competitive advantage, highlight your work (keep those project profiles updated) and consider highlighting your people and processes. Publish your phone number and email address. Make it easy for clients to contact you and all key staff.

Consider Customizing a BrochurePrinted brochures may be a dying mar-keting tool. They are expensive and they are not necessarily green; however, there is nothing wrong with leaving a brochure behind with a client. The best bet is a cus-tomizable format that highlights relevant project experience and people.

Choose Print Ads WiselyPrint advertising can be expensive. If you choose to advertise, make sure the publi-cation has a targeted distribution list that gives you the most exposure for your dol-lars and create an eye-catching ad that com-municates your unique brand message.

Consider the Audience When Deciding on Trade ShowsNot every trade show is created equally. Only participate as a vendor when you ex-

pect to see some potential clients. You have 15 seconds for your booth to grab attention so make sure your display is captivating. Man the booth with people who are com-petent, engaging and memorable.

Avoid NewslettersNobody wants to be junk mail. There is no better time than now to cut those e-mail and print newsletters that drain time and money from your organization that could be better used elsewhere.

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Our reputation is building.®

Commonwealth Contractor | January 201026

Issue 10 MARKETING

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Earn Free Media The goal is to get your people and your projects in the news. When communicating with reporters use email, have an interesting subject line, type in the body of the email (no attachments), and include the contact in-formation of the highest ranking individual willing to take a call from a reporter.

Focus on local business journals, Mid-Atlantic Construction, Virginia Business, Commonwealth Contractor and any other

industry or business publications that your clients read. Remember, reporters get hun-dreds of press releases each day. You will not make a good impression if you send a press release on your company picnic. Send them good information and consistently of-fer to help them do their job; your effort will pay off.

A Simple Crisis Communication PlanBad press can really put a damper on your company’s image. Consider having a sim-

ple plan of action in the unlikely case of a crisis. Assign a designated spokesperson to handle communication. Train your superin-tendents to disarm the media by assuring them that there is someone willing to talk to them. Avoid saying “no comment.”

Fundamental Business Development Tools

Put the Client FirstAlways take that phone call. Follow up promptly. Make the client feel like they are your only client. Never tell anyone you are too busy.

Build RelationshipsToday being seen by your clients at the right events shows that you are healthy and surviving the downturn. Take your cli-ents to golf outings, concerts and baseball games. Being seen everywhere makes your company look strong, in the know and cen-tral to the industry. Avoid sitting with co-workers at networking events; spread out and mingle. Make sure to send the right people to events because a disgruntled em-ployee or a wallflower can do a lot of harm to your image. Remember, not everyone is a business developer.

Stay ConnectedConnect using all means possible. Use LinkedIn and other social media to expand your network. Get involved in association committees and make meaningful friend-ships. Remember not to underestimate the importance of subcontractor and vendor rela-tionships. Without strong subs and suppliers, you are not going to get and keep clients.

Create MemoriesMake your client feel special; make the most of groundbreakings, topping offs and ribbon cuttings as opportunities to cater to your cli-ent’s ego. When you think about community service, consider joining efforts with a major client and helping them achieve their service goals. They will value and remember your commitment to their passions.

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Commonwealth Contractor | January 2010 27

Issue 10 MARKETINGPersonalize an Elevator SpeechCan your team all think quickly on their feet? When someone asks “so what do you guys do?” can they string together a good answer in the 15 to 60 seconds they have to do so? An elevator speech is a brief descrip-tion of what you sell (or better yet, what your customers are buying). Different em-ployees need different elevator speeches. Some can modify and tailor their elevator speech to specific circumstances and audi-ences; some need a very simple memorized statement. It must flow naturally to be be-lievable. Encourage employees to use your distinct advantage and deliverable promise and personalize those messages into their own elevator speech.

Word-of-Mouth MarketingThe most powerful form of marketing is word-of-mouth. When your clients and em-ployees talk, people listen. Word-of-mouth can make or break your business because

unlike testimonials, word-of-mouth is un-paid and hence, more believable. Don’t underestimate employees. Send the right people to networking events.

Make an effort to know what the word is “on the street” about your company. Rela-tionships matter throughout the construc-tion team. You want your clients, subs, ven-dors and consultants to enjoy working with you. That is the best recipe for successful word-of-mouth marketing.

Remember Past CustomersEven if your client will not need your ser-vices anytime soon, chances are they are connected to potential clients. And when past customers talk, potential future custom-ers listen. Send a personal letter on the an-niversary of the ribbon cutting or occupancy for each project. Apply for awards and invite your client to accept the award with you. Stay connected to your best clients.

Protect Your Turf

Protect Your TurfYou are busy in a different way these days. Chasing work is not easy. However, it is safe to assume that at least one of your competitors is smart enough to make time to go see your clients.

Get Ready to Rebound The private sector will come back. Healthy growth will return. Now is the time to un-derstand where you stand in the market-place, shore up your marketing and busi-ness development strategy and solidify re-lationships. Keep repeat work and positive referrals in your sights and when the mar-ket comes back you can be more selective. Today price rules but tomorrow value and relationships will reign supreme.

Angie Gutenson is a vice president of Associated Builders and Contractors-Virginia Chapter.

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Hatfield-Reynolds Electric Co.is now IES Commercial.

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