Is Doesn’t Get Much More Fun Than This!

Just got back from a great trip to a client’s office. I LOVE days like we had together.

As we worked through my client’s numbers, explored the way he goes about his business, and tossed around opportunities, it became crystal clear that he had an opportunity to quadruple his net income fairly easily in 2009. He was sitting on so much untapped capacity and potential.

His production numbers, crew and equipment arrangement, competitive position, and staff capabilities all point to an explosive performance in the upcoming year – even using fairly conservative assumptions.

Guy has also run into the very same situation several times when starting with a new client. Guy has helped drive the sudden growth of several companies that were in the described position.

His client would have been doing many things right, would have built a highly capable team, would have had pretty much bought the right equipment, but just wasn’t really tapping it for all it was worth. The ring was there for the taking if only the owner would focus on the right activities, manage his time wisely, and stay committed to a couple of stretch goals.

Is this happening in your construction business? Are you sitting on a massive income potential if only you would focus on the right things and really work hard on them?

Here’s how you can tell.

Determine how much work your crews could perform if you could keep them busy. Now, figure out how much of their time you would sell by blowing off unattractive leads and started pursuing only high quality leads. Then, determine the strength of your competition. Does anyone really own your target clientele?

If you believe your core clientele isn’t really well served by anyone yet and your team has the ability to do so, then you also are sitting on an untapped mountain of opportunity.

Hopefully, that’s what you’ll discover!

Best wishes for your business.

Your friends,

Ron & Guy

The Contractor’s  Business Coach

We hope the new year has brought you new energy and a commitment to get after it.

To someone like me who is little bit of a history buff when it comes to macroeconomic events and our government’s responses to them, the most obvious upcoming opportunity for contractors is federal work.  Have you thought about that and started preparing to take advantage of it?

Ever since the Great Depression, our federal government has used federal construction projects to re-ignite a slumping economy. If my memory servers correct, incoming President Obama has mentioned this as part of his economic plan.

Why focus on federal work?

Because only the federal government  has the ability to create money to inject into the economy.

State’s don’t have that ability, not directly. They have to borrow which isn’t going to be overly viable in the current bond market.

You will note that the money that was injected into the Wall Street hasn’t exactly stimulated the economy. Banks aren’t lending money. Without lending, residential and commercial construction grinds to a halt.

The feds surely haven’t missed that. They’ll go back to their proven remedy: federal construction projects.

So what should you do?

Get your production management systems in order. Get ready for prevailing wage work. Adjust your estimating parameters to account for the higher wage rates.

Start building relationships with General Contractors and primes who have a long history of doing federal projects. Develop design/build relationships. Design / build is a rapidly growing trend for contractor selection on public jobs. Get up to speed on LEED certification.

Basically, get ready to play in the big leagues. That’s where the greatest near term opportunity is going to be.

Wishing you the best.

Your friends,

Ron & Guy

I was thinking about this discussion between Ron and myself when I realized that most often we know when there is a “weak link” in the organization. Now the question becomes what o we do about it?

How much time and effort do we put in to try and convert the individual to a strong team member?

Unfortunately I think part of the answer lies within how important the person is to the organization and how detremental is the behavior? A salesperson that sells 2 million dollars a year in profitable work, the brother of the owner who has a silver platter mentality and a field laborer will probaly all be treated differently.

I have a strong belief that when the meeting on that fateful day when you must separate the indivdual from the organization arrives it should not be a surprise to either party. That goes for the salesman, brother and field worker alike.

Therefore it is essential to clearly communicate reasonable performance expectations and when they are not substantially met the situation needs to be adressed in a very timely fashion.

Ultimately the employee should be placed on a defined personal improvement plan for 30 -90 days. This is when leading turns into managing because now the supervisor needs to meet with the individual on the PIP once a week to discuss progress on short and medium term expectations. With a positive attitude towards change from the employee and proper management of expectations and results, often the person can be turned into a valuable human asset of the corporation. If the PIP fails to produce results then it is time to make a change for that position.

The benefit of this process is that you have documentation along the way that reinforces either decision. If you would like more information on personal improvement plans or you need help coaching difficult employees feel free to contact Guy or Ron.

Ron I think we are on the same team playng doubles. Your Serve!