• Action Alerts
  • Construction Advocacy Fund
  • Election Center
  • Infrastructure
  • AGC Foundation Awards
  • Research Initiatives
  • Scholarship Program
  • What You Can Do
  • Mental Health & Suicide Prevention
  • Awards & Recognition
  • Education and Training
  • Hard Hats to Helmets
  • Crane & Derricks in Construction
  • AGC-Autodesk Safety Harness Grant Program
  • Workforce Development
  • Culture of CARE
  • Diversity & Inclusion Committee
  • Diversity & Inclusion Assessment
  • State Law Matrix
  • HRTED Practices E-Forum Archives
  • Labor and Employment Advocacy
  • Labor & HR Publications
  • AGC Career Center
  • Labor & HR Topical Resources
  • Annual Risk Conference
  • Crisis Response & Communication
  • WebEd & Podcast Recordings
  • Reports & Hot Topic Papers
  • Risk SmartBrief
  • Surety Bonding
  • Meet the Steering Committee
  • Procurement
  • Climate Change
  • Education Catalog
  • Virtual Learning
  • AGC Emerging Contractors Education Series
  • Instructor Resources
  • Lean Construction Forum
  • CM-BIM Holders Directory
  • Construction Supervision Fundamentals
  • Advanced Management
  • Safety & Health
  • News Releases
  • Construction Employment
  • Producer Price Indexes
  • Construction Spending
  • Construction Trend Power Point
  • State Fact Sheet
  • AGC Construction Inflation Alert
  • Data DIGest
  • Supplemental Economic Resources
  • Construction Diversity Image Library
  • Newsletters
  • ConstructorCast
  • Member Directory
  • Events Calendar
  • AGC Convention
  • Sponsorship
  • Building Division
  • Federal & Heavy Division
  • Highway & Transportation Division
  • Utility Infrastructure Division
  • Construction Leadership Council
  • AGC e-Forums
  • Student Chapters
  • AGC Connection
  • Get Involved
  • Get Started
  • Discount Programs
  • Capstone Supporters
  • Member Company Employees
  • Membership FAQs
  • Create new account
  • Forgot Password?

Business Development Best Practices

Every month the Business Development Committee reaches out to small business owners, marketing directors, and public relations specialists to gather valuable insight into the rapidly growing construction industry.

If you're looking to create marketing proposals, build relationships with customers, and increase sales, our Best Practices article series can help.

business development strategy for construction company

  • Client Portal

Ascent Consulting

  • Our Story, Purpose & Values
  • Coaches vs. Consultants
  • Giving Back
  • Evaluations & Audits
  • Implementation & Integration Services
  • Expanded Use
  • Administration & Support
  • Operational Assessments
  • Operational Design
  • Project Management
  • Strategic Business Planning
  • Estimating & Preconstruction
  • Finance, Succession, Exit Strategies & Acquisitions
  • Construction Software & Technology
  • Talent Acquisition & Employee Retention
  • Incentive Programs
  • Growth Strategies
  • Strategic Marketing Campaigns
  • SEO, SEM & Social Media
  • Design Services
  • Advertising
  • Design Portfolio
  • Marketing Assessment

Business Development

  • Pre-Construction
  • Project Financials
  • Employee Performance, Retention & Incentives
  • Finance & Insurance
  • Growth & Contraction
  • HR & Benefits
  • Recruiting & Hiring
  • Announcements
  • Awards & Events
  • Industry News & Insights
  • Quarterly Newsletters
  • Success Stories

Free Consultations

Rewarding Business Development & Sales: Incentive Packages Part V

author

Adam Cooper

Time to Read

Fundamentals Of Effective Sales Incentive Plans

Employees are the lifeblood of every construction company .  No matter the size of the company, each individual serves a purpose, and their performance either helps or hinders the organization – there is no middle ground. With that in mind, realize that the goal of every business owner should be to:

1)Hire the right individuals for each position

2)Set them up for success

3) Ensure that they are making a positive contribution to the company

In this fifth article in the series, we will explore successful sales incentive (reward) plans and strategies that are commonly used with Business Development and Sales managers/professionals across the construction industry to help with #3 above.  

Read More: How To Recruit and Hire Top Performers

As a business owner or Business Development Manager, you have the ability to set up sales incentives, compensation packages, and a successful sales incentive program that motivates your employees to make positive contributions to the success of your company.

While money is not the only motivator, it is typically the ‘biggest' motivator and the easiest for your employees to recognize.  So, we will start with common financial structures of bonus and sales incentive programs, and later we'll explore some other ‘fringe' benefits that can be used to complement these plans and help drive employee performance.

businessman, consulting, business

Business Development professionals in the construction industry are often the most misunderstood people at a company.  They typically do not estimate project opportunities and do not manage projects or other employees. They rarely produce anything physical or tangible, and successful ones are not even in the office very often.  

However, they are often the  lifeblood  of the company. They are responsible for finding and nurturing relationships with potential clients, partners, and suppliers.  They feed the company with opportunities for new work, new projects, partnerships, and deals. They are the driving force that creates all the work that the rest of the company performs: estimating, project management, construction, accounting, human resources, etc.  

Remember, Tom Watson of IBM famously said “ Nothing happens until someone sells something ”.  It is the responsibility of the business development people to find the opportunities, bring them to the company, and then help to close the deals.  Their sales performance is their  positive contribution  to the company. 

For smaller companies, this role is usually filled by the owner, who is the original business development engine (sales funnel) for the company. They forge and nurture relationships with people who become their first clients.  As the company grows and becomes more successful, the owner may charge their project managers with business development and sales in target markets, or hire full-time business development professionals to fill this role. 

If enhancing your business development strategy is something you are looking for, check out our page:   We design Sales Incentives Programs for Construction Companies.

Read More: What's So Great About Procore?

What Do the Desired Results Look Like?

When thinking about compensation and incentive plans for your business development people, it's helpful to think about the actions and results we are trying to achieve and reinforce. The key  desired results  we should be expecting from our Sales Team at both the GC and Subcontracting level are the same:

- Build strategic partnerships that result in high-value project opportunities

- Generate leads, manage customer and partner relationships, and close deals

- Meet or exceed the company's strategic growth, marketing , and sales goals

There are also some secondary results we may desire from our Business Development managers:

- Enhance relationships with clients, prospects, and partners

- Identify new services that would appeal to existing and new clients

- Prepare and present quarterly goals and forecasts for future projects

So, what if we could design the right sales incentive program for successful Business Development managers that drives these key  results  we are trying to generate?

Read More:   Building Employee Loyalty

What Is A Sales Incentive Program?

The most common incentive programs for Business Development managers are commission-style and are based on the Contract Value and Projected Revenue of each project. This system can be used for both General Contractors and Subcontracts alike.  

The Contract Value is exactly what it sounds like the value of the contract signed with the client. 

The Projected Revenue can be calculated in several ways but is typically calculated as the Contract Value minus all direct costs to perform the project .  This would include all labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors, and direct costs associated with the performance of the project.  This is often referred to as the gross profit on a project, as it does not include company overhead costs.   

Let’s create a sample project for this article:

$100,000         Contract Value

$25,000           Labor

$20,000           Materials

$5,000             Equipment

$12,000           Subcontractors

$20,000           Direct expenses

$82,000           Total cost

$18,000           Projected Revenue ($100,000 - $82,000) = 18%

Listen to Adam Cooper Discuss Incentive plans for the Competitive Contractor 

Read More: Articles | Ascent Consulting | Project Financials

Incentive 5

Tasks and responsibilities

The estimate should be built by the  Estimator  and is used to bid, negotiate and win the project.  It is not typically performed by the Business Development manager or personnel. However, a talented business development professional will not just bring opportunities in the door, they will see the opportunity all the way through to the close. 

This would include providing insight into the client's budget, pain points, goals, and desires, positioning their company as the best solution for the project, helping to drive up the value of the services being provided, and potentially handling any final negotiations that lead to a signed deal.  In this way, they are able to leverage the relationships they've built and nurtured into strategic partnerships that lead to high-value (profitable) projects for their company.

So, how can we structure a sales incentive program that drives the key behaviors we are looking to reinforce? 

In order to drive the first key behavior “build strategic partnerships that result in high-value project opportunities”, we can set a minimum profit threshold that must be satisfied in order for a deal to qualify for a commission.  This is often set as a function of the company overhead level (the typical range is 8-12%). 

Assuming our sample company runs at a 10% operating budget, then they might set the minimum profit level at 15%.  This now becomes a simple yes/no gateway; any project that does not meet this requirement would not qualify the business development person for a commission.

Based on this qualifier, our sample project looks to be a ‘high-value' project, with an estimated profit of 18%.

So, now that the project qualifies for a commission, how do we calculate and pay that commission?  What are the industry standards? How do we ensure that the BD person continues to nurture the client and stay involved? 

The commission structure is often set as a tiered-percentage system.  This means that there are distinct ranges that pay set percentages.  The tiers for the commission structure would be set for your company based on several factors, such as average, minimum, and maximum project sizes, typical profit margins, type of work, duration of projects, etc. 

Within this basic framework, you can increase or decrease the number of tiers and adjust percentages, which are often set as diminishing percentages.  What this means is that as project values go up, the percentages go down. 

Here’s an example:  

incentive 5 chart

Sales Incentives Examples (Real-Life)

The reason the percentages diminish as the project value increases are mainly attributable to the amount of risk the contractor is taking on the project.  Smaller projects typically have less risk and are therefore more likely to achieve estimated profit levels.  Larger projects inherently have more risk associated with them, and therefore the company can assume that the profit will more closely be linked to the performance of the Project Manager .

Additionally, it does not make sense to offer high commission percentages on large projects, as they do not promote consistent behavior.  For example, if the Business Development person receives a flat 3% commission on a $1MM project, this would equate to a $30,000 payout.  If they can make 1-2 sales like this each year, then they are likely to only chase these types of clients and projects and will not give each opportunity and client equal importance. 

This is probably not in line with the company's desired behaviors of consistent performance in nurturing prospects, enhancing relationships with clients, and consistently meeting sales goals throughout the year. 

Conversely, using the tiered structure, the commission on a $1MM project would be calculated as:

$100,000 x 3% = $3,000

$400,000 x 2% = $8,000

$500,000 x 1% = $5,000

Commission = $16,000

This is a much more reasonable commission (by industry standards) and also keeps $14,000 in the project budget for the PM to use to mitigate risk.

In our tiered bonus example (from the chart above), a project must have a minimum contract value of $25,000 in order to qualify for a commission.

For contracts up to $100,000, the commission will be 3% of the contract value.

For contracts between $100,001 and $500,000, they will earn 3% on the first $100,000, plus an additional 2% on the money between $100,001 and $500,000.

For contracts between $500,001 and $1MM, they will earn the commission from #2, plus an additional 1% on all money up to the $1MM.

For contracts over $1MM, they will earn the commission from #3, plus an additional ½%. 

So, for our sample project, the business development person would earn 3% of $100,000, or $3,000 as a commission.  This could be paid as a lump sum upon receipt of the first payment on the project or could be paid out over time based on the duration of the project. 

Commission payout terms would be decided for your company based on many of the same factors. If you perform short-term projects (less than 3 months duration), a one-time payout often makes sense.  If you perform longer-term projects, then tying commission payments to monthly billings/receivables may be preferable for maintaining cash flow. 

This also incentivizes the business development person to stay engaged with the client for the duration of the project.  Should there be any billing (or other) disputes, the BD person now has a stake in resolving them to the client's satisfaction while also protecting the company's interests. 

Read More: Construction Project Labor – Cost Management

Types of Sales Incentives

Let me explain the types of sales incentives available in your market. The sales incentive is divided into two types: Monetary rewards and Non-monetary incentives.

Non-monetary incentives

As in our previous articles (parts  III  and  IV ), we listed some  ‘fringe' benefits  you can offer your people as incentives beyond money.  Here are some of the most common ‘extras' that are given to successful Business Development people as incentives:

Extra paid vacation days (PTO)

Company vehicles or vehicle allowances

New/upgraded company laptop

Company-branded merchandise and clothing

Restaurant or store gift cards

Air travel rewards (travel vouchers, seat upgrade certificates)

Tickets to sporting events and concerts

Golf clubs or other sports equipment

Electronic devices and gadgets (Bluetooth speakers, headphones, radios, mp3 players, tablets, etc.)

In Conclusion

We hope this article provides you with some ideas for your own sales incentive plan and shows you how to create a structure that rewards Business Development people for their performance and supporting the goals of the company.  We also  welcome your feedback  and suggestions for other ways you've found to incentivize your BD people!  Leave a comment below, or  email us with your ideas so we can share them with our readers!

Read Part III: Rewarding Project Managers

If you're ready to start working on your business, let's talk!

Schedule a FREE Consultation

Ascent Consulting’s mission is to  Build Better Construction Companies .  We are committed to delivering impressive results in the areas of  profitability, performance, and growth .

Tagged with:

Business Development Finance & Insurance Sales Business Operations Employee Performance, Retention, Incentives Find Work

Ascent's founder and president, Adam Cooper has over three decades of experience in construction business ownership, sales & marketing, project management, construction technology, company operations and leadership.

19 Responses

  • Price reduced
  • Recently added
  • Coming soon
  • Application
  • Agriculture
  • Aggregates & quarry
  • Construction
  • Oil & gas
  • Popular make
  • Caterpillar
  • Freightliner
  • International
  • Bucket trucks
  • Telehandlers
  • Earth moving
  • Compact track loaders
  • Motor graders
  • Skid steers
  • Skip loaders
  • Wheel loaders
  • Cold planers
  • Road reclaimers
  • Power generation
  • Dump trailers
  • Flatbed trailers
  • Log trailers
  • Articulated trucks
  • Dump trucks
  • Haul trucks
  • Off-highway trucks
  • Service trucks
  • Specialty trucks
  • Tank trailer trucks

Man climbing into equipment

Effective Business Development & Lead Generation in Construction

Insight - 77 min read, august 12, 2023.

In the highly competitive construction industry, effective business development and lead generation are crucial for success. To stay ahead of the game, construction companies must understand the importance of these processes and adopt strategies that yield results. This article will delve into the world of business development and lead generation within the construction sector, providing insights into key strategies, techniques, case studies, and future trends that can help companies maximize their growth potential.

Understanding Business Development in the Construction Industry

Business development plays a vital role in the construction industry by driving growth and fostering long-term success. In essence, it encompasses activities that aim to identify and secure new business opportunities. For construction companies, the primary goal of business development is to create a pipeline of projects, allowing them to expand their portfolio and increase revenue.

When it comes to business development in the construction industry, there is much more than meets the eye. It involves a complex and multifaceted approach that goes beyond simply winning new projects. Successful business development requires a deep understanding of the market, strategic planning, effective client relationship management, and strong partnership building.

Key to understanding business development in construction is recognizing its multifaceted nature. It involves a wide range of activities, including market research, strategic planning, client relationship management, and partnership building. By assessing market trends, analyzing competitors, and understanding client needs, construction companies can position themselves effectively for growth.

The Role of Business Development in Construction

In the construction industry, business development scatalyzesgrowth. By continuously identifying and pursuing new projects, construction companies can create a steady stream of revenue and expand their market presence. Business development professionals play a pivotal role in nurturing relationships with clients, architects, engineers, and other key stakeholders, ensuring a steady flow of projects for the company.

Business development professionals in the construction industry wear many hats. They are not only responsible for identifying new business opportunities but also for fostering strong relationships with existing clients. By understanding client needs, addressing concerns, and consistently delivering high-quality projects, these professionals build trust and secure repeat business. Additionally, they play a crucial role in establishing partnerships with other industry players, expanding the company's reach, and gaining access to new markets.

Key Strategies for Effective Business Development

To achieve effective business development in construction, companies must adopt a strategic approach. First and foremost, it is essential to establish a well-defined target market to focus efforts on the most promising opportunities. By understanding client requirements and aligning services accordingly, construction companies can differentiate themselves and develop a competitive edge.

Another key strategy is fostering strong relationships with existing clients. By consistently delivering high-quality projects and providing exceptional customer service, construction companies can build trust and secure repeat business. Additionally, leveraging partnerships with other industry players can help expand the company's reach and gain access to new markets.

Furthermore, effective business development involves actively participating in industry events and conferences, where professionals can network with potential clients, industry experts, and decision-makers. This provides invaluable opportunities to showcase expertise, build relationships, and gain insights into emerging trends and market developments.

Moreover, staying up-to-date with technological advancements and incorporating innovative solutions into business development strategies can give construction companies a competitive edge. Embracing digital tools and platforms can streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance communication with clients and partners.

It is worth noting that business development in the construction industry is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Each company must tailor its strategies and tactics based on its unique strengths, target market, and goals. By continuously evaluating and refining business development efforts, construction companies can stay ahead of the curve and thrive in a highly competitive industry.

Lead Generation in Construction: An Overview

Lead generation is a crucial aspect of business development in the construction industry. It involves the process of identifying potential clients or projects within the opportunities that arise. By effectively generating leads, construction companies can tailor their marketing and sales efforts towards the most promising prospects, increasing the likelihood of conversion and project acquisition.

But why is lead generation so important in the construction industry? Well, it plays a vital role in ensuring sustainable growth for construction firms. By identifying and nurturing leads, these companies can minimize wasted time and resources on unqualified prospects, focusing their efforts on those with genuine potential. This targeted approach ensures that marketing and sales efforts are directed toward the right audience, optimizing the chances of successful conversions.

The Importance of Lead Generation in Construction

Lead generation is not just about finding new clients; it is about finding the right clients. In the construction industry, where projects can be complex and require significant investments, it is crucial to identify prospects who are not only interested but also have the financial capability to undertake the projects. Effective lead generation allows construction companies to filter out unqualified leads and focus on those who are more likely to convert into long-term clients.

Furthermore, lead generation enables construction companies to stay ahead of the competition. In today's highly competitive market, it is essential to be proactive in finding new opportunities. By consistently generating leads, construction firms can maintain a steady pipeline of potential projects, giving them an edge over their competitors who may rely solely on reactive strategies.

Traditional vs. Digital Lead Generation Methods

In the past, construction companies heavily relied on traditional lead generation methods such as direct mail, cold calling, and industry networking. While these methods still have their place, the digital age has brought about a revolution in lead generation.

Online platforms have become powerful tools for reaching a broader audience and capturing valuable leads. With the advent of search engine optimization (SEO), construction companies can now enhance their online presence and visibility, making it easier for potential clients to find them. Social media marketing has also emerged as a popular digital lead generation method, allowing construction firms to engage with their target audience and build relationships.

Email marketing is another effective digital strategy for lead generation. By building an email list and sending targeted campaigns, construction companies can nurture leads and keep them engaged throughout the decision-making process.

While digital lead generation methods offer scalability and measurable results, traditional methods still hold value. Direct mail, for example, can provide a personal touch and establish a more direct connection with potential clients. Industry networking events also offer opportunities for face-to-face interactions and relationship-building.

Therefore, adopting a combination of traditional and digital lead generation methods allows construction companies to leverage the benefits of both worlds. By utilizing the personal and relationship-oriented nature of traditional methods alongside the scalability and measurability of digital methods, construction firms can maximize their lead generation efforts and increase their chances of success.

Techniques for Effective Lead Generation in Construction

Lead generation is a crucial aspect of any successful construction business. It involves identifying and attracting potential clients who are interested in the services or products offered by the company. ITomaximize lead generation efforts, construction companies can employ various techniques and strategies. This article explores some of the most effective techniques for generating leads in the construction industry.

Networking and Relationship Building

Networking remains a fundamental aspect of lead generation in construction. By attending industry events, joining professional associations, and building relationships with fellow professionals, construction companies can establish valuable connections that may lead to future business opportunities. Networking provides a platform for exchanging ideas, staying up-to-date on industry trends, and forming strategic partnerships.

Moreover, construction companies should prioritize cultivating strong relationships with existing clients and leveraging their networks. Satisfied clients can serve as brand ambassadors, providing referrals and recommendations that can translate into new leads. By maintaining open lines of communication and delivering exceptional service, construction companies can foster long-term relationships that result in repeat business and a steady stream of referrals.

Utilizing Online Platforms for Lead Generation

In the digital age, online platforms have become essential for lead generation in the construction industry. Construction companies should establish a strong online presence through a professional website, social media profiles, and online directories. These platforms serve as valuable touchpoints, allowing potential clients to learn about the company, view past projects, and contact the business.

Expanding the online presence involves employing targeted digital marketing strategies such as content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. By creating informative and engaging content, construction companies can attract and capture leads who are actively seeking relevant information. This can be achieved through blog posts, videos, infographics, and other forms of content that showcase the company's expertise and highlight its unique value proposition.

Furthermore, construction companies can leverage social media platforms to engage with their target audience, share valuable content, and promote their services. By actively participating in industry-related discussions and providing helpful insights, construction companies can establish themselves as trusted authorities in their field, thereby attracting potential clients and generating leads.

The Role of Content Marketing in Lead Generation

Content marketing plays a crucial role in lead generation for construction companies. By creating valuable and relevant content such as blog posts, case studies, and e-books, construction firms can position themselves as industry experts and thought leaders. This not only attracts potential clients but also helps build trust and credibility, increasing the chances of generating qualified leads.

Effective content marketing involves conducting thorough research to identify the needs and pain points of the target audience. By addressing these concerns through informative and actionable content, construction companies can establish themselves as trusted advisors who genuinely care about the success of their clients. This, in turn, fosters a sense of loyalty and increases the likelihood of converting leads into paying customers.

In conclusion, lead generation in the construction industry requires a comprehensive approach that combines networking, online presence, and content marketing. By implementing these techniques effectively, construction companies can attract a steady flow of qualified leads and ultimately grow their business.

Case Studies of Successful Business Development and Lead Generation

Case study 1: leveraging partnerships for business growth.

In this case study, a construction company successfully expanded its business through strategic partnerships. By collaborating with architects, engineers, and other construction professionals, the company gained access to new markets and projects. This collaboration not only allowed the company to tap into the expertise and resources of titspartners but also opened doors to a wider customer base.

Through these partnerships, the construction company was able to take on larger and more complex projects that they wouldn't have been able to handle on their own. This not only increased their revenue but also enhanced their reputation in the industry.

Furthermore, the company's partnerships enabled them to offer a more comprehensive range of services to their clients. By working together with architects and engineers, they were able to provide integrated solutions that met the diverse needs of their customers.

The key takeaway from this case study is the importance of building mutually beneficial relationships and leveraging them for business growth. By forming strategic partnerships, businesses can expand their reach, access new markets, and offer a wider range of services to their clients.

Case Study 2: Digital Marketing for Lead Generation

This case study focuses on a construction company that embraced digital marketing techniques to generate leads. Realizing the power of the internet and online platforms, the company took proactive steps to optimize its website, implement effective SEO strategies, and leverage social media platforms.

By optimizing its website, the construction company ensured that it appeared prominently in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to find them. This increased their online visibility and drove more traffic to their site, resulting in a higher number of leads.

In addition, the company recognized the importance of social media in reaching and engaging with the target audience. By creating compelling content and actively engaging with users on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, they were able to build a strong online presence and establish themselves as industry leaders.

The case study emphasizes the importance of embracing digital platforms and marketing strategies to drive business growth. In today's digital age, businesses need to adapt to the changing landscape and leverage the power of the internet to generate leads and stay ahead of the competition.

Future Trends in Construction Business Development and Lead Generation

The impact of technology on business development.

Technology continues to reshape the construction industry, and with it, the landscape of business development and lead generation. Advancements such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionizing project management, client engagement, and lead generation strategies.

One of the key impacts of technology on business development in the construction industry is the ability to streamline processes. With the implementation of BIM, construction companies can create digital representations of the entire project, allowing for better coordination and collaboration among stakeholders. This not only saves time and reduces errors but also enhances the overall client experience.

Virtual reality (VR) is another technology that is making waves in the construction industry. By creating immersive and interactive virtual environments, construction companies can showcase their projects to potential clients more engagingly and realistically This not only helps in lead generation but also allows clients to visualize the result, increasing their confidence in the construction company's capabilities.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also playing a significant role in business development and lead generation in the construction industry. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle customer inquiries, provide personalized recommendations, and assist in lead nurturing. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also frees up valuable time for the sales team to focus on high-value leads.

Construction companies that embrace technology and leverage its capabilities will have a competitive advantage in business development. By adopting cutting-edge tools and software, companies can streamline processes, enhance collaboration, deliver innovative solutions, and attract tech-savvy clients.

Predicted Trends in Lead Generation for Construction

Looking ahead, lead generation in the construction industry is expected to become even more data-driven and targeted. With advancements in customer relationship management (CRM) systems, companies can effectively track and segment leads, offering personalized marketing and sales experiences.

One of the predicted trends in lead generation is the use of predictive analytics. By harnessing the power of AI and machine learning algorithms, construction companies can analyze vast amounts of historical data to identify patterns and trends. This enables them to predict future customer behavior and tailor their lead-generation strategies accordingly. For example, if the data shows that a particular segment of customers is more likely to convert, the construction company can allocate more resources to target that segment.

Another trend in lead generation is the integration of automation. By automating repetitive tasks such as lead scoring, email marketing, and follow-ups, construction companies can save time and increase efficiency. This allows the sales team to focus on building relationships with high-value leads and closing deals.

Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms will enable construction companies to analyze vast amounts of data, uncover actionable insights, and predict future trends. By leveraging these technologies, lead generation efforts can become more precise and yield higher conversion rates.

Conclusion: Maximizing Business Development and Lead Generation in Construction

Effective business development and lead generation are essential for construction companies aiming to achieve sustainable growth. By understanding the role of business development in the construction industry, adopting key strategies and techniques, and embracing digital platforms, companies can position themselves at the forefront of the industry.

Furthermore, studying successful case studies and staying informed about future trends enables construction companies to stay ahead of the curve and adapt their strategies accordingly. With a proactive approach to business development and lead generation, construction companies can unlock their true growth potential and thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Join our inventory mailing list to get early access to our best deals

Coachfirm Logo

(888) 777-0303

Creating a Construction Company Growth Strategy

Creating a Construction Company Growth Strategy

The construction industry faces challenges and successes as the market changes each year. Recently, your construction business may have become stagnant. If you’re struggling to find customers and keep your employees, it’s helpful to come up with a new business plan. Follow these tips for your construction company’s growth strategy.

Table of Contents

  • Define Your Value Proposition
  • Identify and Measure Your Key Business Objectives
  • Understand Your Ideal Customer
  • Pay Attention to Your Revenue Channels
  • Watch Your Competition
  • Consider Innovation
  • Evaluate Your Progress

How Do You Scale Construction?

Growth strategies and how to apply them to your team, contact coachfirm to help create your construction business growth strategy, how to grow a construction company.

These steps can help you create a construction company growth strategy.

1. Define Your Value Proposition

As you figure out how to grow your construction business, it’s helpful to define your company’s purpose so you know how to move forward. A value proposition is a clear, compelling sentence that tells prospective customers what you provide when they invest in your services. It also reveals what your company stands for and how you operate as a business. Your value proposition should be persuasive and attractive to potential customers. Use your value proposition as a headline on your company’s website or place in the newspaper.

2. Identify and Measure Your Key Business Objectives

After you’ve created a value proposition, consider using the following key business objectives to measure your success and help your company grow:

  • Maintaining a steady stream of income to make a profit
  • Using your resources to increase productivity
  • Providing excellent customer service
  • Keeping current employees and attracting new ones
  • Creating core values that drive your vision
  • Cultivating sustainable growth
  • Having cash or fluid income
  • Adapting flexibility
  • Rising above the competition

3. Understand Your Ideal Customer

Since your construction business should meet your customers’ needs, it’s helpful to know your target audience. When you’re focused on your ideal customer, you can make effective connections and provide what they want. For example, if you perform construction projects for homeowners, you wouldn’t advertise your services to commercial property owners. Think about your ideal customer’s characteristics, such as their age, gender, household income and geographical location. Create a persona type to help you figure out how to advertise to your target audience.

4. Pay Attention to Your Revenue Channels

Revenue channels are ways for your construction company to make money. Think about what services you offer that bring revenue into your business, and use your resources to maximize your profit. It’s helpful to diversify your revenue channels so you can maintain your cash flow during various market trends. Some of the popular revenue streams in the construction industry include:

  • One-time contracts and bids from private and public works construction projects.
  • Service work and ongoing monthly or annual accounts.
  • Passive income from real estate.
  • Supplying materials in a warehouse.

5. Watch Your Competition

Other construction companies nearby may be thriving in areas where you’re struggling. Think about what your competitors offer their workers and customers to determine where you could adjust your work environment. Stay ahead of the competition so you can retain your employees and bring in revenue from new customers.

Keep track of current marketing trends, such as using sustainable products, to attract a wider audience and beat the competition. You should also provide a positive work environment for your employees to keep them motivated to stay. If competitive companies offer more benefits or a more pleasant atmosphere, you might lose your best employees to the competition.

6. Consider Innovation

Think about how you can make your business run more smoothly to save time and money on your projects. Research disruptions in your supply chain and find ways to get products to your worksite cheaper and more quickly. Consider setting up innovative technology that allows everyone to be on the same page, such as:

  • Construction sites with pre-fabrication and communication capabilities.
  • Cloud systems that allow the whole project team to connect from different locations.
  • Digital supply chains to keep track of your inventory.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) or other digital services to educate your employees on new information.
  • Online databases to keep track of resources.
  • Digital accounting services to send invoices to customers efficiently.

Evaluate Your Progress

7. Evaluate Your Progress

Your growths strategy may involve improving your weaknesses, but you may also want to focus on your strengths. Measure your company’s success through key performance indicators (KPIs) that are relevant to the construction industry. These characteristics will help you meet your short-term goals and ensure long-term resilience.

You can keep track of your progress with the following KPIs:

  • Safety: Having a safer construction site lowers your insurance rates, reduces risks and saves money long term. You can measure your company’s safety by keeping track of the rate of incidents at your worksites or how often you’ve had to have a safety meeting.
  • Quality: Provide better quality services to improve customer satisfaction and reduce the time and money you spend on a project. You can measure your projects’ quality by the number of defects you’ve had per project and the time and money spent to fix the issue.
  • Performance: Measuring your team’s productivity on each construction project helps identify where they’re exerting most of their effort so you can plan your resources accordingly. You can measure your team’s performance through downtime, the amount of revenue earned per hour or the waste or recycling produced per job.
  • Employees: Workers who are happy with their jobs are more likely to be motivated, so they’ll produce better results and bring in more customers. You can measure employee satisfaction by looking at turnover rate and training completion.

Scaling your company means adjusting to its employee and customer growth. As your business improves and changes, you may discover that some of your old systems don’t work anymore. You can ensure success during this change by:

  • Keeping it simple: As your business grows and changes, your team might get complicated. Keep everyone on the same page by creating an efficient flow of communication. Designate people for specific jobs so that everyone knows their responsibilities. You should also try automation tools to reduce the amount of work everyone else has to do.
  • Prioritizing new and existing customers: Even though you should think about attracting new customers, you should also remember your existing ones. Find ways to make both groups feel important. If all your clients are satisfied, they’ll be more likely to recommend your business to others.
  • Investing in the right technology: You should update the technology for your construction company to operate your business more efficiently. Research what resources would be best for your team’s every day operations. Think about what you could make digital to save paperwork, time, energy and money.

Here are some of the ways you can use the following growth strategies to improve your company:

  • Create a mission statement: Your company’s mission statement inspires you and your team to pursue growth, and it attracts potential customers. You may want to have a team meeting to discuss your mission statement so that everyone feels included and significant.
  • Identify your goals: As part of your mission statement, think about what you’d like to accomplish. Make a list of SMART goals, items that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-sensitive. Consider asking your employees to come up with individual goals so they can stay motivated.
  • Perform a SWOT analysis: Review your company and figure out its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. You may want to send out a survey to your employees to discover what they think. Find ways to build your strengths, improve on your weaknesses, explore new opportunities and eliminate threats.
  • Look at a construction company strategy example: Research other construction company’s growth strategies and figure out how you can incorporate what they’ve done in your own business.

Contact Coachfirm to Help Create Your Construction Business Growth Strategy

If you need help creating your  construction business growth strategy , work with a business coach at Coachfirm. Use our  small business self-assessment questionnaire  to discover more about how you need help with your business. Fill out a  contact form  online or call 888-777-0303 for more information about how to grow your construction company.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Related posts.

It’s Ok To Be Tired; Just Don’t Be Defeated.

It’s Ok To Be Tired; Just Don’t Be Defeated.

I’m Not Too Fond Of Time Management, And Neither Are You

I’m Not Too Fond Of Time Management, And Neither Are You

Contact us:.

Coachfirm LLC 3149 Hemlock Farms Hawley, PA 18428

Toll Free: (888) 777-0303

Search Our Site:

Recent blog posts:, 3 big mistakes made by hvac company owners, why is it so hard to grow a business, employee retention credits, feast or famine: surviving business cycles, why hire an executive coach, testimonials:.

Bob knows business. His breath of experience in the field of entrepreneurship is invaluable. His perspectives are diverse and well-informed. A combination of Zen master, PT Barnum, and street fighter, Bob’s opinions are always worth your time.

Testimonials

As a small business owner of a general construction company, Bob was a major help, if not a lifeline for me. After making a few mistakes in trying to grow my business, I was fortunate enough to find Bob to help teach and guide me along the way and dig out of a hole. I would recommend Bob to anyone thinking about growing their business to help prevent the errors I made. I am very thankful for Bob’s mentorship as we are in a far better place now than we were eighteen months ago when I first found him. It is much better to be proactive in your growth by partnering with someone who has the knowledge and the foresight to prevent the mishaps along the way.
I’ve always wanted to work with a business coach, but just couldn’t seem to find the right person until I met Bob. He is incredibly knowledgeable, genuine and focused on how I can live my best life while excelling in my career. He’s taught me so much in a short amount of time and continues to keep me on track with professional and personal goals while enjoying the journey. As Executive Vice President of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, I highly recommend Bob to any business out there looking to get organized, increase sales and strategize for the future, all while enjoying life!
We, fortunately, found Coach Bob online after trying in vain to find an outside source to help us revamp our successful niche refinishing business. After years of trying to run our company by myself and two partners, it became quite evident that although we knew how to make money, we had slowly lost the ability to expand our lives away from the business. After initial discussions with the “coach”, we entered into an agreement, with no strings attached, to try Bob out. It didn’t take long for us to realize that running a successful business is not a complicated process if you have proper systems in place…..and a few important hires that we had been hesitant to do previously. With Coach Bob’s dedicated assistance, we have begun to feel big changes, not only in our business life, but in our personal lives. Next project… learning to use our new-found leisure time!
I have worked with Bob for a number of years and he has provided me the focus to pursue my goals and achieve them. Bob was not afraid to give me an accurate assessment of my business and challenged me to stick with those areas I enjoyed and delegate the balance. Bob took a genuine interest in both my professional and personal life so he better understood how to motivate me. With the help of Bob I was able to transition my business which is allowing me faster growth and a better quality of life.
I have had the privilege to work with Bob Scott for many years. He has had a tremendous impact on my success as both an employee and a business owner in the diamond and jewelry industry. Bob has a wealth of business knowledge, practical real world experience, and an unique ability to communicate with all types of people. I feel confidant to have someone as talented as Bob Scott as a business coach, mentor, and friend by my side as I encounter any future business challenges.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Bob for many years. His unique view of business has provided my with tremendous insights into my business. Many of these insights are game changing and Bob has a way of explaining the issue and solution in a concise manner, which helps in the implementation. More importantly I would call Bob a friend and that means more to me then any business we do together.
Just wanted to say thanks Bob, for the planning and guidance you provided to me. The numbers speak for themselves. Our sales have more than doubled, our net retained earnings are up 7%, our overdue receivables have declined by 40% and our workforce has doubled. Many thanks…everyone deserves to reach the “top of the snowman.” All it takes is education and hard work.
I started working with Bob after I suffered a personal tragedy. With the direction from Bob I was able to return my company to profitability in less than one year, and have a different outlook on life.
I just want to thank Bob for all he’s done for me and the business. When you change my business, you changed my life. Thank You!
I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while, it took another goal, as in the Florida home to make it come out and start. We are up 25% and holding GM and expenses. I have a budget for the first time in five years and this month put us on the money. You were a huge part of scratching my record to get changed to happen. It’s a little delayed but never the less, you were a major help to me to nudge me into a leadership role looking at my business as an asset. Thank You!
Working with Bob gave our company a fresh perspective backed by experience, accountability, and results that had a direct, positive return both financially an spiritually. Within a few months, Bob rejuvenated our Company spirit, marketing, and direction. We were rewarded with more than just the financial gains. After sixteen years in business, my partner and I thought we understood our company, our market and ourselves. It took Bob’s strategy to show us how much we didn’t know then and how much we are certain about now. Bobs methods, structure and design of how my business should look, act, and perform were tracked and proven. When we began using Coachfirm, my partner and I both knew immediately that this was the missing piece to our puzzled business.
I hired Bob as a coach a couple of years before the recession. At first, it was to work with me to create a plan for the family and growth issues we were facing. Right away he went to work increasing sales and profits by working directly with the sales team three times a month. He organized and attended the meetings, energized the staff and helped us interview and hire a Sales Manager. Most of all he held everyone accountable and was there, on site, to coach one on one. Did it work? At the height of the recession, we were in good enough shape to move to a new 90,000 square foot manufacturing facility in New Jersey, purchase needed equipment and open up new markets. Now, five years later we have paid down equipment loans and are poised for the best sales and profit year ever.
Bob has helped us grow both professionally and personally by opening our eyes to different approaches to management. We have worked hand in hand to institute strategic changes and have seen a steady increase in our productivity, profitability and peace of mind.
Bob Scott is an excellent business coach! I have referred him to many of my clients to help them with expansion and growth of their small business, as well as, overall company improvement & leadership development. I have received wonderful feedback from my clients regarding Bob’s involvement with them and their companies! Bob has also referred me many of his business clients and upon meeting them, they have raved about Bob! The common comment amongst them, is they trust Bob completely and wait to consult with him regarding any business decision they make. I would highly recommend Bob Scott, business coach!

Business Blog     Contact     Frequently Asked Questions     Sitemap     Privacy Policy Copyright © CoachFirm. All Rights Reserved. | Coachfirm LLC, 3149 Hemlock Farms, Lords Valley, PA 18428 Toll Free: (888) 777-0303 | Call for FAX number

Privacy Overview

KanBo

Construction business improvement strategy

Table of Contents

Improvement strategy

A building trades business improvement strategy is a plan of action implemented by a building trades firm with the goal of improving overall productivity..

This can include improving the projects management processes, adopting innovative technologies, or increasing marketing efforts. The  construction industry  is growing daily, and to ensure your construction company stays entrenched, you must have a solid strategic plan for improvement, one that could mean the difference between stagnation and growth.  Using a digital software platform such as KanBo  to streamline your processes will make it easy for you to scale your construction business.

A building trades business improvement strategy is a plan of action implemented by a building trades firm with the goal of improving overall productivity (More about KanBo and productivity  read in this article ). This can include improving the projects management processes, adopting innovative technologies, or increasing marketing efforts. Unlike most businesses, the construction industry requires carefully planned and executed improvement strategies to be successful.

A successful construction company starts with a sound business strategy but finding time to study and implement a building companies improvement strategy can be critical in today’s turbulent times.

Staying up to date on the latest trends and technologies in the construction industry will make reaching your target audience easier (More information about latest trends in construction are in this article:  The Latest Trends and Innovations in the Construction Industry ). Even better, you will have incredible tools available to you like building software and project management to help grow your business.

All the above recommendations, you might have noticed, share a trait: using a digital software platform such as KanBo to streamline your processes will make it easy for you to scale your construction business. As a PM ( Project Manager ), you should continuously be looking for ways to cut down on waste and improve performance as part of your construction strategy. Updating construction technologies is a PMs responsibility, so be aware of what innovative solutions from brands may be leading to better productivity rates on-site. For most companies, implementing the construction strategies outlined above will require significant changes in the culture of your business.

TIP for Project Manager – check out what a sample innovation implementation strategy looks like.

In construction, adjusting to a new operational model is challenging in senior management. While expanding may lead to increased profits when done right, it brings greater challenges than other businesses. A larger, global company, with multiple projects and larger territories, means more employees, higher expenses, higher liabilities, more equipment, and more marketing…in short, it requires more elements for effective operations (Check KanBo business apps for  Operations Department ). Construction companies, even at smaller scales, have a lot of jobs, including lots of legal, getting lots of documents, managing lots of subordinates, and dealing with buying tons of raw materials, that all too often has variable costs, getting projects built, the list is long.

The construction industry is growing daily, and to ensure your construction company stays entrenched, you must have a solid strategic plan for improvement, one that could mean the difference between stagnation and growth.

A strategy improvement plan in construction is one more path that you can take to strategically position your company for success and keep your leading position with customers. Creating a construction strategic improvement plan can really help you gain control over what you are offering customers and how you intend to deliver on that. Creating a strategic plan allows building business owners to find the best ways to reinvest in their growth.

Businesses who have used strategic planning and survived through challenging times know strategic plans supply value over the long-term while supplying guidance on the daily grind.

With the economy and the building industry constantly changing, strategic planning is a crucial tool. Taking time to build out a strategic plan will help entrepreneurs capitalize on years to come, by recognizing and capitalizing on new opportunities before competitors do. Whether you are just starting, or you have been running your company for some time, it is always important to have plans in place to grow and expand so that you do not get left behind the competition.

Improve your business strategy with these tips, including how to manage your cash flow, weather any storms, and take advantage of work coming in. Plus, learn how to use project management software to help manage your construction projects.

In your plan to improve your business strategy, make sure you note the things that you need to do to manage your cash flow, weather any storms, take advantage of work coming in, and keep your company moving forward successfully. A business improvement strategy plan will help you to be successful and grow bigger every year.

Having a project management software in your business improvement strategy is one of the most critical solutions to building your construction business for successful project management. Among technological advancements, building project management software like KanBo is the one which will play a key role in building construction industries development in coming years. With the innovation technologies being used in construction sector like automation,  robots , building ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning ) solutions,  artificial intelligence , etc., the development of the construction companies is also increasing. It is essential to grow in an intelligent way, and just having a strategy plan for improving business might not suffice.

Improving the worksite strategies, which are guided by data, to efficiently schedule is one of the ways in which worksite inefficiencies can be reduced. You can use data from key indicators and revenue streams to further customize the growth plans, as well as understand the types of businesses and audiences better, which in turn improves the growth of your business. With the KanBo construction solution, you will not have to miss timelines and plans, and, most importantly, you will be able to track the performance of your members and gauge the efficiency rate of your teams.

Don’t be afraid to get some help or guidance when it comes to building your construction business. A strategic plan is essential, whether you have been in the construction industry for some time or you are just starting out. With the help of a business improvement strategy, you can enhance your management capabilities, gain a better understanding of your key revenue streams, and be more focused on building your business, making sure that your services are reliable, efficient and meet the needs of your customers.

If you want to have a good construction business, you need to use smart construction practices and smart technology to manage your business efficiently and build your brand visibility.

Do you have questions?

Maybe we have an answer!

If you have any questions regarding the topics we discussed in this blog, go ahead and send them to us.

Clickcease

Call Us Today!    1-877-804-2421       [email protected]

I AM Builders Logo

Call Us Today!

1-877-804-2421 [email protected]

Ultimate Guide to Grow Your Construction Business

by: Daniel Quindemil

Growing a construction business IS EASY if you follow certain proven strategies.

Our team has worked with over 1,400 General Contractors, Developers, and Subcontractors, nationwide and we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.

This year we helped Handymench secure a US Government contract to build the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

business development strategy for construction company

We also helped Don Williams of Builder Solution Group in Arkansas win over 8 projects this year.

business development strategy for construction company

And we helped Xavier Miranda from The Go2Guy secure a $4.2 million drywall project for Jackson Hospital West in Miami, FL.

Primarily we are a construction estimating firm , but because of the nature of our business, we are tied into the sales and negotiations part of the business, and we often help our clients with lead generation, along with the sales and follow up for their jobs.  We provide a valuable construction takeoff service for busy contractors

We also have our own construction division here in South Florida so we practice every strategy you’re about to read.

What we’re going to cover

We’ve compiled 29 strategies under 4 sections for you to implement.   We’ve organized them for you so you can jump to the section you need the most right now.

Lead Generation Strategies

  • Estimating and Bidding Strategies
  • Value Building and Follow up Strategies

Project Management and Business Strategies

Setting your Goals and Fixing Existing Issues

Before starting, you need to set a few short and medium-term goals so you can implement the correct strategies.  There is no order , but typically you want to build a lead system so you can estimate more jobs, eventually winning you more jobs, and then being fast and efficient in the construction portion of it.

1. How fast do you want to grow?   Are you looking to explode, or want a steady increase?  Keep in mind every company has growing pains.  If you grow too fast, it can get stressful!

2. Where is the “noise” coming from in your business? Where do you see the most challenges and issues in your business?  Is it with your field supervision?  Are you missing out on projects because of time?  Is your estimating team making mistakes because they are going too fast?  These are the things you need to focus on first.

3. When you get more leads, do you have a plan to estimate these projects? It’s going to take time and effort to get leads.  How are you going to estimate them?  Will you do it yourself?  Do you have a team?  Most contractors are smaller operations, and using estimating services is a great way to get those projects bid ASAP.

1. Use Lead Generation Services

The most important part of growing your construction business is getting the right construction leads .

Here are two methods for you to use to get leads instantly.

Our favorite strategy to get the best leads is going to start with using commercial and residential lead generation services.

These are services like:

  • iSqFt – isqft.com
  • The Bluebook – thebluebook.com
  • Building Connected – buildingconnected.com
  • Home advisor (for residential) – homeadvisor.com

The services will get your foot in the door to bid projects for architects, owners, general contractors, homeowners, and developers that are actively looking for you.

The trick is not to focus so much on the project and focus on the opportunity to develop a relationship with the prospect.

It gives you a chance to meet the decision-makers, and start comparing your pricing with your competition.

If you’re just starting out, you can sign up with all of the services for their free trial, and you will get a few leads per month for free.  These sites are going to get you the volume you need to takeoff construction projects at a high volume.

2. The Title Page Method

The title page method is a method I devised for our clients that triple or quadruple the chances of winning a job.

In short, it’s 3x or 4x your chances of winning.

Find out who else is bidding the job, and send them your bid.

Here’s how you do it

1. Head over to your set of plans, and go to the title page or sometimes the title block.

2. Find the section that says Project Information , or Consultants , or similar.

project information title page

3. Call the Architect, Owner, and/or Owner Representative and find out who the bidding General Contractors are.

4. Call them and ask them if you can send them a bid AND ask to get on their bid list.

By doing this you’ve just multiplied your chances of winning by 3 or 4.  You also get a chance to start bidding for a new General Contractor.

Why it works:

If you are a Subcontractor and you are bidding for your General Contractor, you are probably bidding against three other Subcontractors.   Now your General Contractor is probably also bidding against two or three other General Contractors trying to win that same job.

What if you sent your bid to our building general contractors? Most projects have three or four bidding general contractors. That means starting off you only have a 10 or 11% chance of winning the job.

Those are terrible odds.  Means you have to bid 11 jobs to get ONE.

If you send your bid to all the bidding general contractors,  you instantly multiply your chances of winning because  it guarantees that the winner will have your bid.

3. The Double Dipping Method

The Double Dipping method is another method I devised for our clients to help them win more jobs.

Bid as both a General Contractor AND Subcontractor

As a General Contractor, you’ll have direct access to the Owner, which gives you the best shot of winning a job, but overall there are less projects out there.  So your options are limited.

What’s the solution?  Bid as both a GC and Sub.

When using Lead Generation Services, you’ll have access to a bunch of projects.  I recommend using the Title Page Method you just learned above and ask the Owner to bid their job.

If they say yes, you can bid directly to the Owner AND you can bid to the bidding GCs for the trades of your choice.

You probably already have a good list of Subcontractors.  Create a partnership where you can supply materials and management, and they only need to supply the labor.  You often can get much better pricing from them with this arrangement.

This is the Double Dipping method

4. Visit Clients and meet decision-makers

Visiting potential clients will strengthen your business relationship and will open the door to current opportunities they have on their desk.

Go to Google Maps and make a list of potential clients and start visiting their offices and introducing yourself.

Ask to meet the Owner or Principal.  Try to get a meeting with the decision maker right then an there.  Let them know you’re serious about working with them.  Present your qualifications and expertise.

Back to Google Maps:

Type the following:

“Type of client” + near me

“Type of client” + zip code

“Type of client” + city

Architects near me

General Contractors 33196

Realtors Miami

You’ll get a result that looks similar to this:

google maps

Use the list below as an idea generator for types of potential clients to visit.  Make it a point to collect their business cards, leads emails, etc. to later add this to your CRM and follow-up.

For General Contractors

  • Realtors (Commercial and Residential)
  • Previous Clients
  • Interior Designers
  • Property Managers
  • Mortgage Brokers
  • New Construction Project or Developments (ask for the main person in charge)
  • Construction Management Firms (or large GCs that usually hire Sub-GCs)
  • Owners Representative Firms
  • Mall Leasing Offices (ask how to become a preferred contractor)
  • Universities and Colleges (ask how to become a preferred contractor)
  • Large Residential Developments (they are usually run by property managers, or they need contractors for renovation projects often)
  • Empty Tenant Spaces at Malls and Strip Malls (ask the leasing agent to be updated on these spaces – this a great opportunity because if the space becomes filled soon, you’ll be fresh in their minds.)
  • Suppliers and Vendors (they come across all the projects since other contractors call to get pricing. They can tell you who is bidding. You might need to negotiate a finders fee for these types of leads)
  • For the services mentioned above, sign up as a GC AND as a subcontractor for all trades. When GCs start blasting out emails to all the subcontractors in the area, you’ll get an email and you can contact the owner as a potential GC bidder.

For Subcontractors

For Subs, make a Master List of the following types of clients and start visiting.

Bring your business cards, brochures.

Make it a point to collect their business cards, leads emails, etc.

  • General Contractors (ask to get on their bid list)
  • Construction Management Firms (sometimes they hire subs on smaller projects directly)
  • New Construction Projects (ask for the person in charge and ask if they need your trade for any jobs)
  • Interior Designers (some designers do some of the finishes directly.  They might be able to hire you directly.
  • Older Residential Communities (that might need paint or other remodeling)
  • Realtors (Commercial and Residential – their clients always need remodels in new spaces or homes)
  • Suppliers and Vendors (they come across all the projects since other contractors call to bid them.  They can tell you who is bidding. You might need to negotiate a finders fee for these types of leads)

Pass by and visit and say you were in the neighborhood and that you wanted to meet them.

Ask to be put on their bid list, and ask what projects they have coming up.  They might have a project you can take last-minute.

5. Add the Government as a client

The Government is always building!  At the Town, City, County, State, Federal, and Military levels.

And another perk of working of the Government – there is no such thing as a recession or ups-and-downs.  They will always have money to build.  And their contracts are always wage-scaled.   So your contracts are typically going to be 2x or even 3x higher than private jobs.

The only downside – there is a lot of competition.  But it’s worth it overall.

First go to your local County, City, and State Building Departments and sign up as a Government Contractor.  They’ll likely have some pre-qualification forms and requirements to submit.

To find out local building department, head over to Google and type one of the following:

Town + building department

City + building department

County + building department

Next, sign up as a US Government Contractor on a federal level.

USA.Gov – https://www.usa.gov/become-government-contractor

BidNet – https://www.bidnet.com/

GSA – https://vsc.gsa.gov/RA/toolBox.cfm

Fed Biz Opps – https://www.fbo.gov/

Estimating and Bidding Stategies

6. develop a system to estimate projects on autopilot.

The more bids you put out, the more chances of getting jobs you have. Now I’m not a fan of just bidding for whoever. But rather it’s important to bid the right clients and bid them extremely accurate.

The most important part of a construction company is your estimating department. It is the engine that drives your entire company.

Consistency is key. Whatever you bid today, you’ll  see the results 3-6 months from now .  

We actually help our clients estimate their entire projects so they can continue focusing on running their companies, and building their business.

We highly recommend you get yourself an in-house Estimator employee to help you with your estimating. But we know that most contractors in America tend to be smaller operations and it’s difficult to afford a $2000 a week salary sometimes.

7. Hire an Estimating Firm

The solution is to hire an estimating firm like us to manage your construction takeoffs and estimates.

Imagine if you can just submit your plans and place an order, and a detailed estimate is submitted to you in a few days. How valuable is that to your business?

If you are just starting out or your funds are limited, you might not be able to hire an in-house employee, so hiring an estimating firm is a must.

You can submit a plan only when needed, so it’ll keep your costs low.

Now, if you happen to be a do it yourself are, then here is the way to estimate your projects.

8. Use Digital Takeoff Software

Digital takeoff software allows you to quickly calculate linear, area, and counts in your profit very accurately.

Estimating by hand take way too long, and sending your bids to Subcontractors puts you in a risky position trusting your Subcontractors to bid accurately.

Here are two recommended of software:

  • Planswift – planswift.com
  • Bluebeam – Bluebeam.com

First, load the plans to software.

Next, scale the drawing and start measuring using the Linear Tool, Area Tool, or Count Tool.

Planswift will keep track of the measurements for you.

Next, export to Excel so you can add to your template.

Add to your template or spreadsheet so you can add your pricing.

Here is a simple template to get you started:

Download your estimating Excel template

Next, to estimate the project you are going to need a database of pricing.

9. Use Database Pricing

Databases like National Construction Estimator offer you highly accurate pricing tailored to your project’s zip code.

This is what we use in our office.

We use the numbers from the database and make modifications to labor and material pricing based on field conditions.

Companies like Craftsman and RS Means have research teams and consultants to create their databases.  They are based on actual contractors and suppliers providing pricing to them.

Then provide Area Modifiers to adjust for pricing for each zip code.  We’ve seen material prices tend to be pretty close throughout the nation, but labor fluctuate widely.

Areas like New York and Boston have labor rates nearly double the national average.  Meaning projects can be 50% more expensive than other parts of the country.

10. Write a great proposal 

Once you’ve spent the time to estimate a project, it is important to write a winning proposal.

Here is an example of what a proposal should look like.

sample proposal

Include a detailed summary of what your are going to include, and everything you are going to exclude.   Take this time to be thorough.  If something seems obvious to you, it might not be obvious to your client.

Anything that might be confused or unclear, note it under your inclusions and exclusions.

Have a section for your total amount, followed by your payment terms, and any other provisions you want to add.

For example, you can add things like:

  • Excludes overtime and weekend work.
  • Excludes wood framing
  • Includes Level 4 Drywall Finish

If you have Alternates or want to suggest using lower cost materials, or want to separate certain costs outside of your base bid, you can use a section for “Alternates”.

Lastly, make sure your proposals are well formatted, well written with good grammar, and looks aesthetically pleasing.   Clients will see your proposal and relate it to your ability to perform the work.

Value Building and Follow Up Strategies

11. build up your perceived value over time.

It’s a big myth that the low bidder always wins the job.

What actually win the job is going to be your perceived value and expertise in this specific project that you are bidding on.

Now, if you are one of those contractors that bid the job and never really follows up, the only thing the owner or your client has to go by is your price.

Building your perceived value is essentially going to be a combination of implementing many of the strategies in this guide.   What you want to do is add value and trustworthiness over time.

Continue reading on how to build your value.

12. The Audition Method

Bid Low with new clients to get in front of decision makers 

Our best strategy when getting clients opportunities with new clients is the audition method.

Imagine if an actor is trying to get a part for a movie. The director needs to see their abilities before hiring them  to see if they are good for the part.

This is the same in construction.   If you weren’t bidding for a new client, they don’t really know who you are so they are not really inclined to take your bid seriously.

But what if your bid was very long? Maybe even the little bitter? This will get you an audition for the part. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get the part because  clients actually higher on value versus price, but it will give you a great shot.

This message gets you in front of the decision maker and that’s why it’s called the audition.

13.The Interview Method

The interview method goes hand-in-hand with the addition method.

Once you get your foot in the door and have your audition with your client, the interview is what is going to set you up as an authority , a specialist for their project, and will build a huge level of trust with your client.

Everyone thinks clients hire based on price,  but that’s not true. They only hire on price if that’s all they have to go by.  But if you are the highly specialized contractor, that almost guarantees a successful project.  They are likely to pay a little bit more than the little better.

The audition is the bid you submit the sparks the interest because of price, and the interview method is the part where you offer special suggestions and value engineering for this project.

Your goal is to convey value and authority IN PERSON .  This doesn’t work as well over the phone, and definitely not through email.

First you need to spark interest and make them need to call you to clarify some of your scope.  You do this with your price, and you include some qualifications that don’t give away your method.

Contractors and Owners LOVE methods to reduce costs, increase speeds in construction, and way to get better materials at a lower price.

In your scope of work description you might include a standard description like:

  • Includes 5/8″ Stucco with 4″ EIFS Bands per plan.

But later in your “Alternates” section , you can add something in red like:

  • Deduction for Alternative EIFS Trim Installation:   ($30,000)

You highlight this IN RED to bring attention to it.  If it works, you’ll get a phone call saying:

Potential Client:   “Hi John, I got your proposal and I saw your alternate for EIFS trim installation.  What does this mean?”

You:   “It’s an alternative method to reduce the costs.  I saw a detail that shows an installation method that can be improved.  We can use a better type of trim.  I’ve gotten pricing from my supplier.  If you want to get some additional information, I’d like to set up a meeting.  I’ll even get some additional documentation from my supplier”.  We’ll need this to submit for an alternate.

Just having this conversation over the phone will start building your authority.  The thing is if you’re talking to an estimator, they aren’t the final decision maker.  The final decision maker is usually either the Project Manger or Owner.  So you need to convey this expertise to them.

That’s why you need to set up a meeting.  If they ask you for details over the phone, say you’re going to get them from the supplier and you’ll get back to them.

Once you get what you need, instead of sending through email, print the documents and GO VISIT them. Ask to meet the Project Manager and Owner.   Then make your pitch.   You’ll be talking to the decision-makers.

Guess what happens after your meeting?  They might say:

PM/Owner:  “We have a few other projects we were awarded that I want you take a look at…..”

This is the Interview Method.

14. Exposure Method

Get in contact multiple ways and channels

The strategy here is to get in touch with your client whether by phone or visiting, and building multiple touch points in your client – contractor relationship.

Let me introduce you to a very valuable, and little known psychology principle that you can utilize to influence your client in a positive way.

It is called the “Mere exposure”  effect.

In marketing, it is recommended that you have multiple instances of contact with your client whether it be a phone call, visit, ad, or email.

Whenever there are multiple points of contact with someone or your brand, we tend to subconsciously start liking it or them.

It’s a very simple principle that you can follow that will, at a minimum, quadruple the chances of you getting the job.

15. Offer Value Engineering and Expertise

The next thing you can do to increase your perceived value is offer value engineering or a better quality method for the same price for their construction project.  This is part of the Interview Method above so make sure to include Value Engineering and your expertise.

In sales, you have to “Always Be Closing”.   In construction, the similar method is “Always Demonstrate Expertise”.  Owners and GCs like working with solid contractors who are experts in their field.  There are way too many contractors who just know enough to do the job and don’t really offer any additional value other than their labor.

Be different.  Be the one that helps the GC or other trades coordinate the job .

Several years ago when I worked at a Caroni , a drywall company, we were delayed in putting up the ceiling because of coordination issues with the duct work.  The GC was having trouble figuring out the required space for the duct to determine the final ceiling heights.

Because of my background as a Superintendent, I opened up the Mechanical plans and figured out the vertical space requirements using the height of the ducts, required strap height, an additional gap for installation purposes, etc.

This established ME, therefore Caroni as an expert , and this company to this day is working with Caroni on a large majority of their projects.

I’m not taking credit for Caroni’s continued success, but doing this over time on all jobs is going to make you THE BEST contractor they’ve every worked with.

You should have the mindset that you are the best in your industry.   And if you’re not, you need to get the experience and training through courses, in-field training, or my favorite, the “Google.com and Youtube University”.   It’s amazing what you can learn from other experts on Google and Youtube.

16. Branding makes you appear more professional and trustworthy

Lastly, another way to build up your perceived value is branding your company.

Consider branding your company with a professional logo, website, company shirts for you and your employees, high-quality business cards, professional looking templates, and brochures if you are in the residential market.

You can do all of this on Fiverr.com , and Vistaprint.com for your print media and shirts.

You’re going to need this for your sales, prospecting, and negotiations.

If your’e in the residential market, this is going to set you apart BIG TIME from your competitors.

In the commercial space, it’s going to be an added too to increasing your value.  The key is to have everything branded, even your proposals, change orders, and T&M tickets.

17. Build a great management and admin team

It is important to build a good team that meshes well when trying to build your construction company.

You are going to need a good Project Manager, Superintendent, Foreman, Accountant/Book Keeper.

If you are a GC, most of your required staff will be in your office helping you manage.

Your Project Manager will likely spend half of his or her time managing administrative duties, and the other half managing the field alongside the Superintendent.

Your Superintendent should be a highly skilled professional that has a solid character and understands how to manage the workers.  Working in this field supervisory role requires a specific personality type that can handle the field crews. Supervising these guys can be rough, so it’s important you have a levelheaded person with great people skills.

18. Build a great field team

Make sure your skilled labor is skilled.

Train your team in the field and invest in them.  You should have a General Superintendent that is responsible for the entire Field Operations including training.

19. Use Subcontractors and Pieceworkers

You can hire skilled workers as piece-workers on a subcontracted basis, or you can bring in hourly labor from Subcontractors.  These companies can provide you their regular workers but on an hourly basis, with a few dollars on top for profit.

DO NOT use construction agencies to staff your project. In my experience, getting these types of workers is a waste of money and will make you look very bad.

I learned my lesson once with a drywall crew of four that only hung about 10 sheets entire day. When I called to complain to the agency they told me it was too bad and I was the responsible to make the payment.

20. Use project management software

Most contractors use an Excel sheet, and some handwritten notes to run their companies.

If you really want to modernize and grow your company, you are going to have to invest in a very good project management software.

The software packages allow you to keep contract information, change orders, or applies, and all of your buildings.

Two project management software programs we’ve used and can confidently recommend are:

There are a ton of them and some are industry-specific, so I highly recommend you reach out to the sales departments and watch a demo so you can see how we can help you.

21. Do Your Billings on time 

One of the challenges most contractors have is preparing their invoices and monthly billings. Even though this is what gets you paid, it’s tempting to put other things in front of it; especially emergencies and issues on the job site.

Most contractors fall into the trap of doing everything, or almost everything in their company.  This is a big mistake.  If you do, you’ll be responsible for remembering and doing your billings on time.  Most of the time you’ll be busy with other things and you’ll forget and miss the window and you’ll need to wait until next month to get paid.

The reality is this needs to take top priority above everything you do.

When I worked at Caroni, the 20th of the month was the most important day of the month and we would stop all operations in the office until the billings got done. This gives you a sense of how important it should be.  If you need help with the billings you can probably get it through a project management software.

22. Use a schedule of values to bill for your projects

One of the best tips to grow your company is to use a schedule of values to bill your project.

There is often disagreement on the percentage of work that is completed when you are sending your invoice.

Architects and owners representatives will say “You’re not at 50%. Please revise your invoice to 25%”.

This is bad because you have a lot of money invested in the project in labor and materials and if you are not getting paid what you were asking for, you will likely be behind on payments to your suppliers.

The way you get around this is breaking down your project into measurable parts so that as each part is completed, it is very easy to see an exact percentage versus a judgment percentage.

23. Bill a large portion of the Contractor up front

Once you create your schedule of values, the first thing you should do is bill for 10% for mobilization.   For bigger projects, you might have to use only 5% mobilization.

This covers upfront costs you’ll need to cover such as equipment rentals, set up fees for scaffolding, lifts, etc.  This also covers pre-construction costs such as estimating, administrative task like contracts, meetings, site visits, etc.

These are all real costs that often occur BEFORE a contract is signed.

Many developers and general contractors don’t really like when you add a lot in the beginning because it takes control from them and gives it to you. However, they should be reasonable in allowing you to bill for more upfront since it does often take between 30 and 90 days to get your first check.

24. Maximize Change Orders

Change orders are the lifeblood of this business.

Once you sign a contract, any extra labor, material, and loss of productivity due to things outside of your control are billable.  This is called a Change Order.

Essentially, you are creating an addendum to your contract.

Many contractors are afraid to bill for change orders because they feel that their client will think they are nickel-and-diming them, and it will affect getting future work from them.

I have found  that billing for change orders is part of the business, and it does not affect your relationship with your client. As a matter of fact, I’ve developed a simple strategy to make  you look like a hero even when submitting a change order.

You first have to recognize that there are different types of change orders.

Owner changes

Owners and Architects are notorious for asking to change things throughout the  progress of construction. This happens because they are actually seeing their project in front of them and start noticing things that they didn’t before. These are change orders or you could bill heavy for . You can bill heavy because these are optional changes.  You don’t need to competitively bid, so you shouldn’t bill cheap.

Mistakes by the General Contractor

Here is the hero part….

General contractors sometimes will make mistakes in the projects, often related to sequencing of the job. For example, they might ask the drywall company to close up a wall and later find out that the electricians were not finished. So the electricians need to cut up the wall and  and then it has to be patched.

If you bill heavy here, the General Contractor will be the one footing the bill.  So I like to bill these change orders at cost or for a very small profit. And I let the General Contractor know that I am doing this to help them.

Additional requirements by inspectors

Sometimes inspector show up on the job and noticed things that are not to code even though they were approved during the plan review phase. This cost goes directly to the Owner.  I wouldn’t go too heavy here. I would just charge a decent rate for this work.

Conflicts in Design

Conflicts are guaranteed.  We’ve estimated or built over 3,000 projects, and I’ve never seen a perfect set of drawings.  That’s why we build in a contingency in all estimates.  As a General Contractor and Subcontractor, you bill relatively light here.

Damages to your work that will be back charged 

It is inevitable that someone will damage your work on the job. Depending on the relationship I have with the other contractor the damage my work, I would bill accordingly.

I would try not to bill too much here because I wanted to keep the job site amicable, but sometimes I would have a difficult contractor they really just didn’t care about our work.

I once  put up an acoustical ceiling as directed by the General Contractor, and a few days later, the Mechanical Contractor ripped out the entire ceiling because it was in the way of his ductwork.

This guy expressed a blatant disregard to our work and basically destroyed everything we created.  So when I submitted the change order to the General Contractor that was backcharging this idiot,  I calculated my total cost with profit and I multiplied that number by three.

To summarize, charge your change orders based on the type of change order.

25. Protect your company with the right insurances

There are two types of insurance every construction company needs to have:  General Liability Insurance, and Worker’s Compensation insurance.

General liability insurance

This is the type of insurance that covers your Company  from things caused directly by your construction project. For example, if there is a plumbing leak over the weekend and it causes major damage to other parts of the building, this is covered in General Liability Insurance.

Worker’s Compensation insurance

This is  The most important insurance you can have. It protects you financially for taking care of the costs for injuries by your workers. One of the ways contractors try to get around this is by using a Worker’s Compensation exemption. This only works to cover you and any officers of your company. If you have workers and they get injured you will be financially liable for any medical expenses, payroll expenses for time off, and any lawsuits arising from that injury.

My insurance agent told me of a case that a worker for a roofing company fell off and became a quadriplegic. Ten years later, the claim is still paying for that person’s living  arrangements.

And filing bankruptcy will likely not remove those types of liabilities from you. So make sure you cover your self.

There is also a lot of fraud when it comes to jobsite injuries. So take away the headache and pay the few hundred bucks a month that it costs to cover your employees.

26. Diversify by offering multiple services and trades

One of the best ways to grow your constructs company  is by offering multiple trades. If you are a subcontractor, consider investing in bidding for drywall and painting. Maybe even the doors.

If you are a General Contractor,  you probably have a lot of subcontractor connections that you can build a partnership where you can get the projects and hire them for just the labor, and they can give you special pricing to help you win those jobs.  This is an extension of the Double Dipping Method.

This diversifies you in a market that is notorious for its ups and downs.

27. Finance bigger jobs with credit lines

As you start growing your construction company, you are going to find it very difficult to finance the projects.

Most general contractors don’t have this problem because the subcontractors are really the ones that finance the projects, especially if it’s a net 30 or net 45 type of project. But even general contractors are going to find difficulty in covering things like general conditions, equipment rentals, direct labor, etc.

A credit line is designed to help you bridge the gap between the expenses from this months work, and the check that usually takes two months to get there. I’m not a big fan of taking credit, but if you have solid construction contracts,  and it’s a reliable client, there is minimal risk.

Just be careful that you don’t over extend yourself because I’ve actually even seen companies take on too much work that they can’t finance and go out of business.

28. Get Bonded and pursue larger jobs

This one is a no brainer. Many larger projects are going to require bonding. Bonding essentially means if you do not perform on the project or you walk off on job, the bonding company will foot the bill to replace you. Now, a lot of contractors think this bond will cover them if they make a mistake on the price I need to walk away, but that’s not true. A bonding company will foot the bill temporarily while they pursue legal action on the company did not perform which is you.

Basically if you do a good estimate, run the project and perform the way you were supposed to, you will never have an issue with bonding. But this will get you access to government projects, multiple story building projects, and just high value projects in general.

29. Specialize in a niche

If you specialize in a specific niche, you can position yourself as an expert so that everyone who is going to be performing that type of project comes to you.

For example, building a restaurant is not the same as building a high-rise. Building a luxury residence is not the same thing as building a cheap motel. Play on your strengths  and try to focus on those specific projects.

Remember the part earlier that we were talking about building up your perceived value? If you are an established expert in a specific type of construction, you already get the title of expert without really having to prove yourself.

If you’ve built 50 restaurants already and you have pictures that you can show your clients, it is natural to assume that you know how to build theirs.

Growing a construction business will require a significant amount of time and effort.  But the rewards can be great.

If you build a great team, implement these strategies and principles, you’re pretty much guaranteed success.

Many of these methods are not new, but surprisingly, most contractors are not doing them. We are living in a time where there is so much competition that you’ll need to be different to stand out.

If you implement these strategies, compared to your competition, you’ll stand out in a way that will cause you to win jobs like crazy.

Do you want more projects?

Learn how to get leads on autopilot, bid jobs faster, and close more sales.

Learn about our Contractor Sales Academy .

Related Posts

business development strategy for construction company

5 Construction Leads Strategies to Grow Your Business

business development strategy for construction company

8 Ways to Find Good Workers for your Construction Company

close construction sales

Close More Sales for Your Construction Business in 2021 [BLUEPRINT]

get construction leads

5 Sites That Will Get You Construction Leads

Our Office: 16650 North Kendall Drive

Links: Commercial Estimating Services Residential Estimating Services Construction Takeoff Services Estimating Services Construction Estimating Consultant

Terms of Use Privacy Policy Contact Us About Us FAQ

Sign up and one of our team members will contact you shortly.

Construction Mavericks Logo Design

How to Create a Construction Business Development Plan

Document-TB

Creating a construction business development plan is essential for any entrepreneur looking to start or grow a construction business. A well-developed plan will help you outline your goals and serve as a roadmap for achieving success. 

This article will discuss the importance of creating a construction business development plan and walk you through the process of developing one.

The Importance of Creating a Construction Business Development Plan

A construction business development plan is a critical tool for any construction business. This document outlines your construction business goals, strategies, and tactics. It also serves as a roadmap for success, detailing the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. Without a construction business development plan, it would be difficult to know where your construction business is going or how to get there.

The Process of Developing a Great Construction Business Development Plan

Now that you understand the importance of creating a construction business development plan let’s walk you through the process of developing one.

Determine Your Mission and Values

The first step in creating your construction business development plan is to determine your mission and values. What does your construction business stand for? What are your core values? Answering these questions will help you develop a construction business that is true to your vision.

Decide on Business Structure

The next step is to decide on the business structure of your construction business. There are several options to choose from, including sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), and corporation. Each option has advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that is best for your construction business.

Develop Lead Generation and Bidding Strategies

Once you have chosen your business structure, it’s time to develop lead generation and bidding strategies. These strategies will help you find new construction projects and win bids on existing projects. Without a solid lead generation and bidding process, it would be difficult to grow your construction business.

Conduct Market and Competitor Research

The next step in developing your construction business development plan is to conduct market and competitor research. This research will help you understand the construction industry landscape and identify opportunities for your construction business.

Create Your Marketing Plan

After you have conducted market and competitor research, it’s time to create your marketing plan. Your marketing plan should detail how you will promote your construction business and generate leads.

Develop Your Financial Plan

The final step in creating your construction business development plan is to develop your financial plan. This plan will detail how you will fund your construction business and generate revenue. Without a solid financial plan, it would be difficult to sustain a construction business.

Develop a Strategy to Win And Keep Clients

The construction business is a competitive industry. To succeed, you need to develop a strategy to win and keep clients. This can be done by offering a unique service, providing quality workmanship, and building relationships with your clients.

Create Your Construction Development Plan

By following these steps, you can create a construction business development plan to help you succeed. Remember, a construction business development plan is critical for any construction business. Without one, it would be difficult to know where your construction business is going or how to get there.

Thought Leadership

Business development strategies for contractors.

Published on November 15, 2017 by Eric Goodman in Construction

Business Development Strategies for Contractors

The construction industry is known to be highly competitive and constantly evolving. To remain successful in this kind of environment, construction companies and contractors need to aggressively pursue new business by focusing on marketing and business development. To help our construction clients, prospects and others, Barnes Dennig has outlined some business development strategies below.

A Word on Marketing

First, it’s important to distinguish marketing from business development. Equally vital, marketing is all about your company’s message and brand. Things like identifying your competitive differentiators, writing your “story” for the web and other advertising and establishing the company’s “look,” like your logo and color theme, fall into this category. These activities set you up for establishing connections and gaining new customers through business development activities.

Relationships are Key

A majority of construction companies find that sales success comes most readily from direct connections. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a “salesperson,” it’s important to establish and nourish relationships with individuals who hire construction companies. This may include developers, property owners and managers, realtors, architects and engineers. Join trade associations and business organizations in your area to meet people who could potentially need construction services or know someone with a construction need. For more targeted efforts, single out a few people to call or email to discuss a potential partnership – whether for their own project(s) or for those they influence. Work to set up a “no pressure” face-to-face meeting to begin getting to know more about how you can work together to fulfill their specific needs. Learn the art of “ask versus tell” to really understand their goals and how you can fit in.

Earn Referrals

Along these same lines, referrals are an excellent source of business. First, it’s crucial to ensure that your business has earned the trust of current and past customers to warrant referrals. If your reputation is intact, the rest will follow, but some legwork on your part will spur things along. Directly ask customers for referrals if they know someone who needs a contractor for their next project. If you work on residential construction or remodeling projects, create or review your profile on online review services, such as Angie’s List and Home Advisor. Be sure to respond thoughtfully to any negative reviews and utilize any other applicable business tools. If there is a local referral site in your area, consider signing up there too.

Email with a Purpose

Email marketing is sometimes one part of a construction company’s plan to stay top of mind for current and potential clients. This is often a good strategy, but it may not tip the scales in your favor as well as a focused email tailored to your prospect. Consider sending a personal email with a link to an article or website that may be of interest to your “A list” prospects based on what you already know about their business requirements or special interests. Notes like these can break the ice with a new contact or remind an existing client that you care about your relationship and are thinking about them. In addition, when you get invitations to charity functions, golf outings, networking events, seminars and conferences that might be of interest to a prospect, invite them to join you as your guest. If you can’t attend yourself, think of someone on your lead list who might like to go in your stead.

Invest in CRM Software

If you don’t already have and use customer relationship management (CRM) software, now is a good time to start. The right software, like salesforce.com or HubSpot CRM, will help you organize and keep track of your contacts and active prospects, remind you to reconnect with people you’ve met or communicated with by phone or email, manage other business development activities and help you stay on top of upcoming project bids. This is a great place to enter notes from your face-to-face meetings, attach email communications or bid proposals and note referral information if applicable. This will help prepare you for future communications, especially when you are dealing with a long sales cycle and lots of time in between meetings.

Business development takes time and often repeated contact over an extended period with the same individuals to earn their business. But staying in front of clients and prospects by setting aside time each week for business development activities is well worth the reward of business growth and the vitality of your construction company. If you have questions or need assistance with an audit, tax or compliance issue, Barnes Dennig can help. For additional information, please call us at 513-241-8313 or click here to contact us . We look forward to speaking with you soon.

Share This:

More Insights

Why Contractors Need to Focus on Resiliency in 2024

Why Contractors Need to Focus on Resiliency in 2024

Cautiously Optimistic: ENR and Dodge Construction’s 2024 Forecast

Cautiously Optimistic: ENR and Dodge Construction’s 2024 Forecast

Navigating Economic Shifts: Insights from the Q4 Construction Sentiment Index & North American Outlook

Navigating Economic Shifts: Insights from the Q4 Construction Sentiment Index & North American Outlook

Related industries.

business development strategy for construction company

All Formats

Construction

Strategies for success in a construction business.

Those who wish to start a construction business also need to learn how to develop it in ways that will allow them to achieve their desired level of success. Fortunately, there are numerous strategies that you can employ—each one guaranteed to help grow your construction business . Some of these are as simple as defining your goals one at a time for the sake of attaining realistic progress. Then some involve more complex scenarios and tools, such as the use of cutting edge technology and consistently detailed reports.

business development strategy for construction company

Download this Free Strategies for Success in a Construction Business Article in PDF

Construction business idea template bundle.

construction business idea template bundle 788x510

  • Google Docs

Define your Vision and Mission for Construction Company

define your vision and mission for construction company

Build a Committed Team for your Construction Company

build a committed team for your construction company

Cover your Construction Company Bases

cover your construction company bases

Be an Organized Construction Company

be an organized construction company

Understand Expenses

Have a construction business marketing plan.

have a construction business marketing plan

Know your Audience

Focus on your unique selling point, be clear and realistic with your goals, ensure your goals are also adaptable, keep an eye for the bigger picture, networking to build contacts in construction company.

networking to build contacts in construction company

Find Groups Online

Join events, get a buffer, prioritize customer service for construction company.

prioritize customer service for construction company

Keep the Line of Communication Open

Make sure you deliver on time, do not use too many industry-specific terminologies, occasionally do things for free, embrace technology in construction company.

embrace technology in construction company

Design Technology

Planning technology, supply and purchasing, execution technology, embrace automated reporting systems and keep detailed records.

construction automated reporting systems

Be Selective to be Profitable in Construction Company

be selective to be profitable in construction company

Services that don’t Sell

Equipment that isn’t worth the cost, customers that do not enable growth, quality importance in construction company.

quality importance in construction company

A Focus on Quality Communications

A focus on quality assurance monitoring, a focus on project quality specifications, improve the bottom line of construction company.

improve the bottom line of construction company

Re-Evaluate and Adjust Prices as Needed

Control overhead expenses, seek out lower rate loans, make smart decisions for your construction company.

make smart decisions for your construction company

More in Construction

Corporate succession planning organizational chart template, sample succession planning organizational chart template, talent management and succession planning organizational chart template, succession planning organizational chart template, employee succession planning organizational chart template, simple succession planning organizational chart template.

  • Construction Graphic Design Ideas
  • Construction Graphic Design
  • Starting a Construction Business Ideas
  • Starting a Construction Business
  • Construction Accounting – Everything You Need to Know
  • Documents Required for Construction Business
  • List of Spreadsheets a Construction & Contractor Company Must Have
  • Quality Control in Construction Business
  • Insurance Requirements for Construction Projects: Things to Know
  • How to Manage Costs in Construction Business
  • What are Preconstruction Services? How They Create Value for Every Project
  • Importance of Construction Daily Reporting
  • Top 10 Construction Companies 2023
  • Construction Scheduling: A Complete Guide
  • Top 10 Construction Business Trends

4 Steps to Success: Business Development for General Contractors (Part 3)

business development strategy for construction company

The final part of our 3 part series on business development strategies for general contractors

December 7, 2021

Edward Gonzalez

Edward Gonzalez

Founder at Buildr

Welcome to the final part of our 3-part series on the 4 steps of construction business development. Four steps over three parts, and this fourth step has six components—not confusing at all!

In Part 1 , we looked at focusing on systems to achieve goals rather than honing in on the goals themselves. In Part 2 , we looked at tool adoption as a necessary weapon a BD professional must wield. Today, we finally arrive at the last step:

Step 4: Take pages from other playbooks

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is a common internal evaluation for continuing to do what’s working. For external purposes, ie., identifying what’s working for others, let’s amend the colloquialism to “If it ain’t broke, let’s steal it.”

An aside: Of course, “steal” is a morally-loaded term, but consider Steve Jobs (likely) misquoting Pablo Picasso: “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” Led Zeppelin openly stole . Every head coach in the NFL steals strategies from Bill Belichick. If “stealing” is too jagged an edge, “paying homage” is a euphemism we can all get behind.

In all seriousness, it would behoove general contractors interested in leveling up their business development to study the best practices of two separate sources:

a) Their direct competition, and

b) Successful companies in other industries.

The direct competition piece will lean more circumstantial. How have other, more successful general contractors made a dent in your target market? The answers will vary, though a familiar one we won’t be able to change is that they’ve been around longer than you. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll be primarily identifying successful strategies and mindsets from industries separate from construction. Construction could learn a thing or two (or in this blog’s case, six things) from the successful business development of other industries.

Business development is a marathon, not a sprint.

The construction business development professional should prioritize daily habit-building to lay the foundation for continued success. This part is much more psychological than business-savvy, but one should strive to make new habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying or they simply won’t stick.

Large scale business development initiatives aren’t carried out in one fell swoop; they’re the result of completion of daily, occasionally monotonous tasks, and agilely circumventing—or quickly climbing out of—miscalculations. Keeping in mind that business development is a long game helps instill a microscopic momentum forward. It’s impossible to see tangible results from a single gym session, but year-over-year consistency? Now we’re talking.

Business development is internal as it is external.

As a general contractor grows, it will inevitably increase employee volume. On a long enough timeline, entirely new business units will also spring up out of necessity. This makes a universal business development ethos for the organization much more complicated, especially if acquiring internal buy-in isn’t made a priority.

One of our partners ANDRES Construction follows an internal empowerment strategy that is frequently seen in other industries but rarely in construction. Jonathan Haywood runs point on business development at ANDRES, and he also considers himself an ambassador and a steward to engage and instruct his team. He’s helping design a class for team members: Business Etiquette and Communication Training.

“We’re just shy of 200 employees," said Haywood, "so we hit on how we interact in a business setting, how we interact on Zoom, what etiquette is, how we portray ourselves in public. Some things will be rudimentary, but post-COVID it’s more apparent we’ll be doing this moving forward.”

Business development is a team sport.

Piggybacking off of the community-acknowledgement of the previous step, it’s important to treat business development like the collaborative effort it is. A well-oiled machine of an organization is when every member dons the sales hat, job title be damned.

Too often, business development efforts become siloed for various reasons: ego, a lack of a team buying into the mission, a failure on management’s part to encourage and empower. Siloed business development handicaps the ceiling of a company’s success. More times than not, more than one team member is going to have touches on a single business relationship. We specifically made our CRM feature unlimited seats for general contractors looking to destroy silos. Because what’s the logic in only one person at a general contractor using their CRM? What happens when that person leaves?

What isn’t measured can’t be improved.

In every industry, analytics is king and this trend will only continue to be the norm in construction. Which types of jobs do you usually lose on? What percentage of repeat business could fall away and you could still hit your growth goals? With general contractor profit pools tighter than ever—and more general contractors springing up everyday influenced by analytics-focused minds of other industries—every GC should be making it an imperative to not only gather data but dissect and grow from it.

Prioritize your digital self.

When’s the last time you looked in the digital mirror? The quality and scope of a general contractor’s completed jobs and word-of-mouth reputation matter, yes. But as we learned from Covid, in-person relationships are only a fraction of business development moving forward.

Is your company’s personal website sleek, easy-to-navigate, and aesthetically modern, or does it look like a library’s home dashboard from 1997? Is your personal LinkedIn an advertisement for you and your brand or is it the Sparknotes of a half-abandoned resume with a few tumbleweeds rolling by? Is your company’s social media and external marketing efforts operating on a singular cohesive mission with daily effort?

Our partner DeAngelis Diamond is one GC that makes it a priority to grow their digital footprint, with a dedicated marketing team that constantly promotes their brand. Just a quick perusal of their website and team member LinkedIns gives you a good feeling. What prospective client wouldn’t want them to build for them?

Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate.

One side of the coin is the past, the other is the future. Business development in every industry keeps its present informed by the future for an obvious reason: we have to work today to get to the place we want to be tomorrow. Forecasting and astute awareness of construction cash flow are staples of sound business development, which is why we made it such an integral aspect of Buildr CRM. Will you have gaps next quarter? Do you need to start the hiring process because of all the projects you signed onto next year?

Stay in the loop

Seriously, you should sign up to be a construction insider. Everyone will be so jealous of you.

CBO Menu

Breadcrumbs

Construction business development: overcome the "business is slow" excuse, determine what is preventing your construction company from growing, and make changes today..

Editor's Note:   This is the first in our 2011 series, "Profit Builder." 

Someone who attended one of my seminars recently sent me an email asking for advice, and he closed his email with this semi-sarcastic comment: "I hope you are enjoying this economy!" It seems like everyone is looking for excuses to wallow in their sorrow.Yes, the overall business climate is slower in most markets, and competition has gotten tougher. But talking about how bad it is does not make things better. In fact, it justifies poor performance and makes it acceptable to have shrinking sales figures and lower profits.

What obstacles are holding your construction company back from growing or profiting in your market?

  • Too many cheap competitors
  • Less jobs to bid
  • Low profit margins
  • Jobs bidding below your costs
  • Customers shopping your bids

Ask These Questions

Start by identifying the external and internal obstacles or excuses you face:

  • What is preventing your company from progressing?
  • How can you achieve your goals?
  • Why is it difficult to change your strategy?
  • Why haven't you made necessary changes?
  • What additional knowledge do you need to succeed?
  • What do you gain if you do not change?
  • What is your worst-case scenarioif you do not make any changes?

Take a hard look at the answers. Then, look even deeper at your willingness to change how you do business.

What Should Plumbing Company Owner Charlie Do?

Imagine this fictional account: Charlie owns XYZ Plumbing, a plumbing company that specializes in new custom homes and remodels. His main customers are high-end builders and contractors who use a select group of specialty subcontractors they trust. Over the years, Charlie had built his company to three foreman and nine plumbers who are all excellent technicians at completing quality workmanship. His field crews do great work but do not interact much with the customers. Charlie handles all the meetings, bidding, proposals, scheduling crews, purchasing and contract management. As Charlie's workload slowed down over the last few years, he struggled with finding enough homes to bid on to keep his crews busy.

Charlie did not know how to get more projects. He thought he could wait until the economy turned around. But as he waited, he slowly had to lay off several of his key employees. Eventually, he started dipping into his savings account and selling some of his trucks and equipment to make ends meet. He regularly attended the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling-Contractors-National Association meetings and talked to his fellow plumbing contractors about his business problems. As he continued to look for answers, the phone still would not ring. 

Unfortunately, Charlie is not alone. There are many contractors who are excellent technicians and solid business people who have built great businesses over the past 10 or more years but are now stuck with the same problem. Their old business model does not work now. Listed below are several suggestions and ideas for Charlie's plumbing business to grow and prosper.

1.    Create Ongoing Revenue Streams

Charlie had built his business by doing excellent work and providing custom home-builders bids on a project-by-project basis. His customers liked dealing with Charlie directly and relied on him to do what was right on the jobsite. Because of his trustworthiness, Charlie received repeat business and referrals for high-end home plumbing contracts. And because his price was not usually the deciding factor, his crews had become less efficient and too detailed than they should have been. When competition increased, his prices and field productivity were not competitive enough to generate new contracts anymore. 

With XYZ Plumbing's current business model in mind, think about what type of customers will pay for high-end workmanship rather than low price. Charlie's company is already known for providing the utmost in service and quality. He has over 275 past projects and customers who can vouch for his company's reputation. Therefore, the best business growth alternative for Charlie is to exploit what he already has and use it to his advantage. 

Charlie could easily start a home maintenance plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company just by offering a great service to his past customers. This division would be built by offering ongoing annual service contracts to high-end residential homeowners who appreciate the best service available. He could easily market to past customers with introductory specials and free home inspections to get his service business started.

2.    Replace Yourself

You need help to grow your company-you cannot do twice as much as you are currently doing and do it well. You must hire someone to either do your current job or the new job created. Adding a service division requires different management skills to generate customers and direct workflow than running a new construction contracting business. One way to start a new business within your own business is to hire someone who has specific experience to grow a profitable company or division. Another option is to buy a territory from a franchise company that already has the systems and training in place. Either choice will take another key manager to make it happen.

3.    Generate More Customer Leads

The first goal for a new service or maintenance division is to break even within one to two years. After the initial start-up period, your division should generate enough revenue and gross profit to cover your entire company's overhead for both the service and new construction divisions. It will take an initial investment for marketing, staffing and training. But with strong leadership focused on generating leads, it will prosper quickly. Some ideas to generate leads for a service business include the following:

  • Discount offers to past customers
  • Direct mail postcards or flyers
  • Rewards for referrals
  • Keyword search engine optimization
  • Truck signage
  • Six-month customer follow-ups
  • Annual free home inspections
  • Quarterly customer e-newsletter
  • Door knob hangers near jobs
  • Frequent buyer program

4.    Convert Leads to Sales

Once you start generating leads, the next step is to improve your conversion rate. Keep track of how many calls your lead marketing methods generate. Then, track how many are converted into customers. Some ways to improve your conversion rates include:

  • Use an inspection checklist
  • Conduct video presentations
  • Offer absolute guarantees
  • Collect testimonials from past customers
  • Present before-and-after examples
  • Handwrite thank-you cards
  • Offer first service for free or prepayment discounts
  • Offer first-time buyer incentives or payment plans
  • Accept credit cards
  • Offer commissions to technicians

Do Not Make Excuses

It is difficult to make tough choices about your own future, especially when you do it alone. Get some advice-ask your mentor, and/or talk to another successful businessperson you respect. But you must make the ultimate decision about your company. Will you go backward, stay put or move forward? There are no guarantees in business. You made choices and took risks to get where you are today by hiring new people, going after new customers, trying new technologies and making tough decisions. Nothing is different now Stop making excuses. Put yourself in Charlie's shoes. He must do something drastically different. Plus, he has an incredible opportunity in front of him. You also have lots of ongoing steady revenue sources and choices in front of you, but what will you do about them?

How They Did It: Success Stories 

Are these issues giving you the right to make excuses? The president of a commercial general contracting firm  talked with me recently about the many challenges preventing his business from growing. He explained all the reasons why it was impossible to make money and continued making the same excuses most contractors make today. 

After an in-depth phone coaching session, we discovered the real problem was his unwillingness to try new business models, services, customers and project types. The president was afraid to venture out into new territories and implement new ideas. He did not want to make drastic changes to his staff, sell any equipment, install new systems or reorganize his field operations. He also did not want to learn new technologies or change his estimating templates. 

I also helped the owner of a paving contracting company, with his strategic business plan. His company's formula to generate revenue consisted of waiting for the State Department of Transportation to issue construction and road projects to bid. They figured if they bid enough projects, they could continue making money. Then, the recession hit, the stimulus money ended, the state's workload diminished, and their competition increased. Now what? 

Thankfully, during our coaching sessions, this owner decided to design and start a new site maintenance division for his company in anticipation of the economic slowdown. Their new division's goal is to work with public and private property owners on annual contracts. This new type of work includes 24-hour on-call services for emergency repairs, weed and debris removal from storm drain channels, slope failure remediation, pothole repairs, temporary sandbag installation, parking lot sweeping and cleaning and asphalt patching. 

This new division required more business experience than the current construction project managers had. It required a full-charge executive and business development leader who was well-versed in technical engineering issues, salesmanship, managing multiple service accounts and annual contracts. To start the new division, the owner hired a vice president from outside the company who had similar experience growing a service business. In less than one year, this new division has created a continuous revenue stream, which has made up the slack caused by fewer state construction projects to bid.

Construction Business Owner , January 2010

George Hedley is the best-selling author of "Get Your Business to Work!" and "The Business Success Blueprint For Contractors" available at his online bookstore. As an entrepreneur, popular speaker and business coach, he helps business owners build profitable companies. 

Related Articles

  • From Our Partners

Sponsored by

How is COVID-19 affecting the industry?

View our digital edition here.

  • Browse by Issue
  • Digital Edition
  • Products and Services Directory
  • Online Exclusive
  • Ask the Experts
  • Trade Show and Event Coverage
  • Latest Blog Posts
  • Popular Now
  • Customer Service
  • Data Privacy
  • CONEXPO-CON/AGG Video Product Showcase 2023
  • World of Concrete Video Product Showcase 2022
  • CONEXPO-CON/AGG Video Product Showcase 2020
  • A Game-Changing Business Development Strategy to Achieve Consistent Growth

Joe Pope

Your business development strategy can be key to the success or failure of your firm. In this post, we’ll explore how to create a strategy and associated plan that can propel an individual, a practice or an entire firm to new levels of growth and profitability.

Business Development Defined

Business development (BD) is the process that is used to identify, nurture and acquire new clients and business opportunities to drive growth and profitability. A business development strategy is a document that describes the strategy you will use to accomplish that goal.

The scope of business development can be wide ranging and vary a lot from organization to organization. Consider the model of how professional services organizations get new business shown in Figure 1.

business development funnel

Figure 1: The three stages of the business development funnel

The first two stages of the model, Attracting Prospects and Build Engagement, are traditional marketing functions. The final stage, Turning Opportunities into Clients, is a traditional sales function. In the traditional role, business development would be looking for new channels of distribution or marketing partners.

But roles are changing and naming conventions evolve. In today’s world many firms refer to the entire marketing and sales process as business development. I know, it can be confusing. So let’s sort it out a bit.

Business Development vs. Marketing

Marketing is the process of determining which products and services you will offer to which target audiences, at what price. It also addresses how you will position and promote your firm and it’s offerings in the competitive marketplace. The result of all this activity should be an increasing awareness of your firm among your target audience — and a stronger flow of qualified leads and opportunities.

Download the Business Development Guide

Historically, business development has been a subset of the marketing function that was focused on acquiring new marketing or distribution relationships and channels. While this role still exists in many companies, the business development title has become interchangeable with many marketing and sales functions.  

Business Development vs. Sales

Sales is the task of converting leads or opportunities into new clients. Business development is a broader term that encompasses many activities beyond the sales function. And while there is some overlap, most traditional BD roles are only lightly involved in closing new clients.  

Business development is often confused with sales. This is not too surprising because many people who are clearly in sales have taken to using the title of Business Developer . Presumably this is done because the organization believes that the BD designation avoids some possible stigma associated with sales.

Nowhere is this practice more prevalent than in professional services. Accountants, lawyers and strategy consultants do not want to be seen as “pushy sales people.” This titular bias is firmly rooted despite the fact that developing new business is an important role of most senior members of professional services firms.

Since so many clients want to meet and get to know the professionals they will be working with, the Seller-doer role is well established in many firms. The preference for Seller-doers also tends to discourage firms from fielding a full-time sales force.

As an alternative approach to leveraging fee-earners’ time, some firms have one or more Business Developers on staff. In the professional services context, these folks are often involved in lead generation and qualification, as well as supporting the Seller-doers in their efforts to close new clients. In other organizational contexts, this role might be thought of as a sales support role.

The result of this confusing picture is that many professional services firms call sales “business development” and make it part of every senior professional’s role. They may also include some marketing functions, such as lead generation and lead nurturing, into the professional’s BD responsibilities.

It is this expanded role, where business development encompasses the full range of lead generation, nurturing and sales tasks, which we will concentrate on in this post.

See also: Heller Consulting Case Story

Business Development Examples

To be clear on what this role entails, let’s consider this business development example:

Bethany is the Director of Business Development at a fictional mid-sized architecture firm. She is not an architect herself. Nor is she involved with any aspect of delivering the projects that the firm has signed. Instead, her role is exclusively focused on signing new business for her firm—with either new clients or existing ones. 

For new clients, Bethany spends much of her time responding to RFPs, communicating directly with inbound leads generated by the marketing/sales enablement team, and nurturing potential clients that she met at a recent industry conference. Bethany also collaborates with the marketing team in the development of new materials she needs to sell to new accounts.

When it comes to existing accounts, Bethany also has a role. She meets monthly with delivery teams to understand whether current client projects are on scope or if change orders are needed. Moreover, she maintains a relationship with key stakeholders of her firm’s clients. If another opportunity for more work opens, she knows that her relationship with the client is an important component to that potential deal.

In this example, Bethany is the primary driver of business development but that does not mean she is doing this alone. Imagine she has a colleague Greg who is a lead architect at the firm. While Greg’s first focus is delivering for his clients, business development—and even marketing—should still be a part of his professional life. Perhaps Greg attends an industry conference with Bethany, he as a speaker and expert and her as the primary networker. The business development dynamic should not end with Bethany and should permeate the whole organization.

In this business development example, you can see that the range of roles and responsibilities is wide. This is why it is essential for business development to not be ad hoc, but done strategically. Let’s talk about that now.

Strategic Business Development

Not all business development is of equal impact. In fact a lot of the activities of many professionals are very opportunistic and tactical in nature.This is especially true with many seller-doers. 

Caught between the pressures of client work and an urgent need for new business they cast about for something quick and easy that will produce short term results. Of course this is no real strategy at all.

Strategic business development is the alignment of business development processes and procedures with your firm’s strategic business goals. The role of strategic business development is to acquire ideal clients for your highest priority services using brand promises that you can deliver upon.

 Deciding which targets to pursue and strategies to employ to develop new business is actually a high stakes decision. A good strategy, well implemented, can drive high levels of growth and profitability. A faulty strategy can stymie growth and frustrate valuable talent.

Yet many firms falter at this critical step. They rely on habit, anecdotes and fads — or worse still, “this is how we have always done it.” In a later section we’ll cover how to develop your strategic business development plan. But first we’ll cover some of the strategies that may go into that plan.

Top Business Development Strategies

Let’s look at some of the most common business development strategies and how they stack up with today’s buyers .

Networking is probably the most universally used business development strategy. It’s built on the theory that professional services buying decisions are rooted in relationships, and the best way to develop new relationships is through face-to-face networking.

It certainly is true that many relationships do develop in that way. And if you are networking with your target audience, you can develop new business. But there are limitations. Today’s buyers are very time pressured, and networking is time consuming. It can be very expensive, if you consider travel and time away from the office.

Newer digital networking techniques can help on the cost and time front. But even social media requires an investment of time and attention.

The close relative of networking, referrals are often seen as the mechanism that turns networking and client satisfaction into new business. You establish a relationship, and that person refers new business to you. Satisfied clients do the same.

Clearly, referrals do happen, and many firms get most or all of their business from them. But referrals are passive. They rely on your clients and contacts to identify good prospects for your services and make a referral at the right time.

The problem is referral sources often do not know the full range of how you can help a client. So many referrals are poorly matched to your capabilities. Other well-matched referrals go unmade because your referral source fails to recognize a great prospect when they see one. Finally, many prospects that might be good clients rule out your firm before even talking with you. One recent study puts the number at over 50%.

Importantly, there are new digital strategies that can accelerate referrals. Making your specific expertise more visible is the key. This allows people to make better referrals and increases your referral base beyond clients and a few business contacts.

Learn More: Referral Marketing Course

Sponsorships and Advertising

Can you develop new business directly by sponsoring events and advertising? It would solve a lot of problems if it works. No more trying to get time from fully utilized billable professionals.

Unfortunately, the results on this front are not very encouraging. Studies have shown that traditional advertising is actually associated with slower growth. Only when advertising is combined with other techniques, such as speaking at an event, do these techniques bear fruit.

The most promising advertising strategy seems to be well-targeted digital advertising. This allows firms to get their messages and offers in front of the right people at a lower cost.

Outbound Telephone and Mail

Professional services firms have been using phone calls and mail to directly target potential clients for decades. Target the right firms and roles with a relevant message and you would expect to find new opportunities that can be developed into clients.

There are a couple of key challenges with these strategies. First they are relatively expensive, so they need to be just right to be effective. Second, if you don’t catch the prospect at the right time, your offer may have no appeal relevance — and consequently, no impact on business development.

The key is to have a very appealing offer delivered to a very qualified and responsive list. It’s not easy to get this combination right.

Thought Leadership and Content Marketing

Here, the strategy is to make your expertise visible to potential buyers and referral sources. This is accomplished through writing, speaking or publishing content that demonstrates your expertise and how it can be applied to solve client problems.

Books, articles and speaking engagements have long been staples of professional services business development strategy. Many high visibility experts have built their practices and firms upon this strategy. It often takes a good part of a career to execute this approach.

But changing times and technology have reshaped this strategy. With the onset of digital communication it is now easier and much faster to establish your expertise with a target market. Search engines have leveled the playing field so that relatively unknown individuals and firms can become known even outside their physical region. Webinars have democratized public speaking, and blogs and websites give every firm a 24/7 presence. Add in video and social media and the budding expert can access a vastly expanded marketplace.

But these developments also open firms to much greater competition as well. You may find yourself competing with specialists whom you were never aware of. The impact is to raise the stakes on your business development strategy.

Combined Strategies

It is common to combine different business development strategies. For example, networking and referrals are frequently used together. And on one level, a combined strategy makes perfect sense. The strength of one strategy can shore up the weakness of another.

But there is a hidden danger. For a strategy to perform at its peak, it must be fully implemented. There is a danger that by attempting to execute too many different strategies you will never completely implement any of them.

Good intentions, no matter how ambitious, are of little real business development value. Under-investment, lack of follow through and inconsistent effort are the bane of effective business development.

It is far more effective to fully implement a simple strategy than to dabble in a complex one. Fewer elements, competently implemented, produce better results.

Next, we turn our attention to the tactics used to implement a high-level strategy. But first there is a bit of confusion to clear up.

Business Development Strategy Vs. Tactics

The line between strategy and tactics is not always clear. For example, you can think of networking as an overall business development strategy or as a tactic to enhance the impact of a thought leadership strategy. Confusing to be sure.

From our perspective, the distinction is around focus and intent. If networking is your business development strategy all your focus should be on making the networking more effective and efficient. You will select tactics that are aimed at making networking more powerful or easier. You may try out another marketing technique and drop it if it does not help you implement your networking strategy.

On the other hand, if networking is simply one of many tactics, your decision to use it will depend on whether it supports your larger strategy. Tactics and techniques can be tested and easily changed. Strategy, on the other hand, is a considered choice and does not change from day to day or week to week.

10 Most Effective Business Development Tactics

Which business development tactics are most effective? To find out, we recently conducted a study that looked at over 1000 professional services firms. The research identified those firms that were growing at greater than a 20% compound annual growth rate over a three-year period.

These High Growth firms were compared to firms in the same industry that did not grow over the same time period. We then examined which business development tactics were employed by each group and which provided the most impact.

The result is a list of the ten most impactful tactics employed by the High Growth firms:

  • Outbound sales calls from internal teams
  • Providing assessments and/or consultations
  • Speaking at targeted conferences or events
  • Live product/service demonstrations
  • Presenting in educational webinars
  • Pursuing industry award opportunities
  • Business development materials
  • Email marketing campaigns
  • Conducting and publishing original research
  • Networking at targeted conferences or events

There are a couple of key observations about these growth tactics. First, these techniques can be employed in service of different business development strategies. For example number three on the list, speaking at targeted conferences or events, can easily support a networking or a thought leadership strategy.

The other observation is that the top tactics include a mix of both digital and traditional techniques. As we will see when we develop your plan, having a healthy mix of digital and traditional techniques tends to increase the impact of your strategy.

Business Development Skills

Now that we have identified the key business development strategies and tactics, it is time to consider the business development skills your team will need. Business development skills require a broad range of technical skills but there are some that make a difference.

When the Hinge Research Institute studied marketing and business development skills in our annual High Growth Study , we found that the firms who grow faster have a skill advantage within their marketing and business development teams.

business development strategy for construction company

Let’s dive into the top three skills from this list. 

The number one business development skill high growth firms enjoy are strong project management skills. And for experienced business development specialists, this makes good sense. Staying organized, accurately tracking business development activity, and managing accounts are essential for building and maintaining strong business relationships. Activities like the proposal development see business development team resources manage and produce a strong proposal quickly, including the right stakeholders, and without sacrificing quality.

The next most important skill is simplifying complex concepts. In business development conversations, it is vital that team members are strong communicators of your firm’s service offerings and capabilities. Those who are able to take a comlex scope of work and communicate it in a way that a potential buyer can understand. Speaking in industry jargon or overly complicated charts is a fast way to see a business lead become unresponsive. Therefore, it is no surprise to see that the fastest growing professional services firms have an advantage in communicating complex information in a way that buyers understand.

The third most important business development skill is face-to-face networking. Despite the hiatus of many in-person events, high growth firms still reported that strong networking skills are a top skill enjoyed by their firms. Strong face-to-face networking skills are as much of an art as it is a science. While some can be more charismatic than others, everyone can prepare their teams with the resources and plan they need to succeed in a networking environment.

Review the other business development and marketing skills in the figure above and determine which skills your team should aim to develop. Strategy development for planning your business development plan, research for understanding the competitive landscape and industry trends, and social media prowess all play an important role in business development, too. Developing these skills should be a key priority of your business development team.

How to Create Your Strategic Business Development Plan

A Business Development Plan is a document that outlines how you implement your business development strategy. It can be a plan for an individual, a practice or the firm as a whole. Its scope covers both the marketing and sales functions, as they are so intertwined in most professional services firms.

Here are the key steps to develop and document your plan.

Define your target audience

Who are you trying to attract as new clients? Focus on your “best-fit” clients, not all possible prospects. It is most effective to focus on a narrow target audience. But don’t go so narrow that you can’t achieve your business goals.

Research their issues, buying behavior and your competitors

The more you know about your target audience the better equipped you will be to attract their attention and communicate how you can help them. What are their key business issues? Is your expertise relevant to those issues? Where do they look for advice and inspiration? What is the competitive environment like? How do you stack up?

Identify your competitive advantage

What makes you different? Why is that better for your target client? Are you the most cost-effective alternative, or the industry’s leading expert? This “positioning” as it is often called, needs to be true, provable and relevant to the prospect at the time they are choosing which firm to work with. Be sure to document this positioning, as you will use it over and over again as you develop your messages and marketing tools.

Choose your overall business development strategy

Pick the broad strategy or strategies to reach, engage and convert your prospects. You can start with the list of top strategies provided above. Which strategy fits with the needs and preferences of your target audiences? Which ones best convey your competitive advantage? For example, if you are competing because you have superior industry expertise, a thought leadership/content marketing strategy will likely serve you well.

Click to play video

Choose your business development tactics

A great place to start is the list of the most effective tactics we provided above. Make sure that each technique you select fits your target audience and strategy. Remember, it’s not about your personal preferences or familiarity with a tactic. It’s about what works with the audience.

Also, you will need to balance your choices in two important ways: First, you will need tactics that address each stage of the business development pipeline shown in Figure 1. Some techniques work great for gaining visibility but do not address longer-term nurturing. You need to cover the full funnel.

Second, you need a good balance between digital and traditional techniques (Figure 2). Your research should inform this choice. Be careful about assumptions. Just because you don’t use social media doesn’t mean that a portion of your prospects don’t use it to check you out.

Online and Traditional Marketing

Figure 2. Online and offline marketing techniques

When, how often, which conferences, what topics? Now is the time to settle on the details that turn a broad strategy into a specific plan. Many plans include a content or marketing calendar that lays out the specifics, week by week. If that is too much detail for you, at least document what you will be doing and how often. You will need these details to monitor the implementation of your plan.

Specify how you will monitor implementation and impact

Often overlooked, these important considerations often spell the difference between success and failure. Unimplemented strategies don’t work. Keep track of what you do, and when. This will both motivate action and provide a great starting place as you troubleshoot your strategy. Also monitor and record the impacts you see. The most obvious affect will be how much new business you closed. But you should also monitor new leads or new contacts, at the bare minimum. Finally, don’t neglect important process outcomes such as referrals, new names added to your list and downloads of content that expose prospects and referral sources to your expertise.

If you follow these steps you will end up with a documented business development strategy and a concrete plan to implement and optimize it.

business development strategy for construction company

Free Resource

The Business Development Guide

Lee

How Hinge Can Help

Hinge, a global leader in professional services branding and marketing, helps firms grow faster and become more profitable. Our research-based strategies are designed to be  implemented.  In fact, our groundbreaking  Visible Firm ®  program  combines strategy, implementation, training and more.

Additional Resources

  • For hands-on help developing a high-performance business development plan, register for our  Visible Firm ®  course  through Hinge University.
  • Keep pace with the marketplace, generate leads and build your reputation all at once:  Marketing Planning Guide.
  • Find out how to turn your firm into a high-visibility, high-growth business. Download our free executive guide,  The Visible Firm® , in which we layout a detailed roadmap of this research-based program.
  • For more insights, check out our blog post, How to Develop a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Firm  

Most Popular Posts

  • Brand Development Strategy: 10 Essential Steps for Your Professional Services Firm
  • How to Master Strategic Marketing for Professional Services Firms
  • Digital Branding for Professional Services
  • 10 Essential B2B Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Professional Services Firm
  • Digital Marketing Strategy for Professional Services
  • Proven Rebranding Strategies for Your Professional Services Firm
  • Elements of a Successful Brand 1: Brand Positioning
  • The Top 5 Business Challenges for Accounting & Financial Services Firms
  • Top 21 Examples of Key Differentiators for Professional Services Firms
  • Elements of a Successful Brand 4: Brand Promise
  • What Is the Cost of Video Production for the Web?

Send me all articles:

business development strategy for construction company

  • Construction CPD writing
  • Research for Construction
  • Marketing Strategy and Planning
  • Insights and Analysis
  • Websites & spec tools
  • Construction PR
  • SEO for construction
  • Content Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Digital Marketing Training
  • Email Marketing and Automation
  • Marketing Consultancy
  • Case Studies

Connect with us

Construction marketing blog, 10 key steps to an effective construction business growth strategy.

March 22, 2017   |  2 comments  |  Posted by Stuart Dinnie  |  Construction Marketing , Marketing Strategy

construction-business-growth-strategy

I’m David Watling, and as the most recent team member to join Pauley Creative, I thought I’d give a little introduction into my new role as Head of Sales. As well as a quick debrief on me , I’ll be sharing with you my top recommendations on how to achieve an effective business growth strategy for your construction business.

So, why me?

With over 21 years sales experience and over 13 years in Digital Marketing, I understand the most effective and measurable tactics for bringing qualified leads to your business. Having worked with complex national clients in the past, I have grown a thorough understanding of who key customers are and how they like to buy and interact with businesses online. As part of my role, I intend to ensure that all of our existing and future clients remain ahead of the digital curve, in producing successful & measurable returns.

For me Pauley Creative was the right fit, being a client-centric business who as a united team , ensure a good-quality service is delivered at the heart of every action.

So without further ado let’s move onto my key recommendations for you – to ensure your construction business can achieve sustained business growth.

1. Nail your value proposition

First things first, ensure your construction business sustains long-term growth by defining exactly what it is that makes you so grea t – and most importantly – what makes your products and services better than the competition.

Do you offer a special benefit that only your products provide? How is your customer service better than the rest? What makes you so relevant, differentiated and credible? 

By outlining this from the offset, you can use it to shape your business strategy & communication tactics going forward.

2. Create measurable KPI’s

Outline your business objectives and prioritise them from the offset so that strategies and tactics can be identified to achieve each one.

These tactics should be defined in the form of KPI’s; identify which key indicators affect the growth of your business, then dedicate the most time and money to those areas.

It’s worth noting that your list of business KPI’s and objectives is never definitive and will need to be reviewed regularly to ensure it remains up-to-date and closely aligned to the ever-changing digital environment.

Most importantly, create  KPI’s that are measurable, in order to evaluate the success of reaching your business goals.

3. Verify your revenue streams.

Make it clear from the beginning what your current revenue streams are and which ones could be created in order to increase the profitability of your business.

Once you’ve identified the potential for new revenue streams, always consider whether they’re sustainable in the long run.

4. Identify your ideal customer

You got into business to solve a problem for your construction audience , but before you go out there and communicate online, who is the ideal customer? You may think you know, but surprisingly enough this is the one aspect of construction marketing that the majority of businesses overlook.

So first things first, outline your key customers by creating detailed persona types – we show you how to create them in this short blog post here.

It may feel time-consuming to begin with, but as you adjust your construction business to stimulate business growth going forward, having these key audience types to revert back to becomes crucial.

5. Understand their key requirements 

As the world of digital and online search continues to develop, our customers’ needs and requirements become more sophisticated. Therefore ensure you know exactly what you need to deliver at each stage of the buyers funnel to solve the problems of each differing audience member.

For example, an architect may require CPD and technical information from your site, but a contractor may require dimensions, fitting instructions or after-sales support.

Unsure of exactly what your audience needs at each stage? One way to measure this is to conduct a survey to gain valuable insight and feedback. This is particularly important as it allows your business to adjust to the feedback and compensate for where you’re currently falling short.

Read our post here which details the effects of Paid Search to match the different requirements at each stage of the construction buying cycle.

6. Make the most of existing company data

Your existing company data already contains most of the answers you’re looking for to be able to solve key customer problems; it should, therefore, lend itself to your strategic decisions going forward.

You can use the data from your key indicators and revenue streams to further personalize your growth plan, in order to better understand your business and audience types which in turn will lead to improved business growth.

7. Define the best communication strategies

Yes – you may have a rough idea of how to approach your audience and what channels are most effective, but this needs defining in a carefully-considered content marketing strategy.

This should include what type of content would be of most interest to each audience member, what form would best instigate their engagement and on which marketing channel it would receive the most impact.

View our Slideshare her e for more ideas on creating an effective content strategy.

It’s important to note that not all communication methods offer the same value across different businesses, and similarly, you don’t need to be communicating across every possible platform out there. Adjust your communications to something that best suits your customer base.

8. Personalise your approach to retain leads

I can’t emphasise the importance of personalised marketing – now that you’ve defined your audience types and researched their exact requirements, you no longer can get away with sending the same people the exact same thing.

Using the right automation software is a must to ensure you’re reaching out to customers in an intuitive way, whilst delivering the right message to solve their problems at exactly the right time.

Always market to your customers without making them feel like they’re being marketed to.

9. Re-evaluate your competition

Never stop monitoring the activity of your competition, as they may be excelling at something that your company is struggling with. Look toward similar businesses that are growing in new, unique ways to inform your growth strategy.

Always consider why your competitors have made alternate choices.

Why have they chosen this route? Is it the right approach to take, or is your business simply positioned differently?

 10. Focus on your strengths

Identifying ways to grow your business doesn’t necessarily involve targeting your weakness – focusing on your strengths can often help to establish the best strategies going forward.

Identify a unique strategy that supports these strengths and enables you to build upon them.

When you take this approach, you’ll quickly come to realise that creating a growth strategy isn’t a one-size-fits-all process, so don’t fixate on your competitors too much. Adapt your plan to smooth out any personal weaknesses and enhance the strengths that will best support and satisfy your specific customers.

Keep your customers coming back for more by tailoring your digital growth strategy to your value proposition every time, which satisfies their everyday wants and needs in a way that is completely unique to your business.

I hope the above information was helpful to you – and if you require any further support on re-shaping your own construction business strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us. Or sign up to our blog to stay up to date with the latest construction marketing news.

Blog sign up

  • First Name *
  • Select Organisation Type * Building Product Manufacturer Membership Organisation Contractor Other
  • Please subscribe me to the Construction Marketing Blog to receive the latest content
  • I agree to your privacy and data policy

' src=

About Stuart Dinnie

Stuart has worked in the world of digital marketing for over 15 years. With his measured and planned approach, he has delivered robust digital strategies for construction companies to achieve real business growth. He now heads up the team at Pauley Creative as Managing Director and is leading his team & clients towards digital marketing excellence. He’s worked with over 100 construction clients; helping them on their digital transformation journey, providing sustainable strategies that return year on year incremental growth, delivering award-winning websites and adding value from board level to marketing assistant.

2 Responses to “10 Key Steps to an Effective Construction Business Growth Strategy”

Awesome Post. Well Done. Keep updating new post.

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the read 🙂

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Monthly digital round up

  • Blogging (9)
  • Branding (12)
  • Building Product Manufacturers (63)
  • Construction Marketing (166)
  • Construction Websites (60)
  • Content Marketing (39)
  • Cool Stuff (18)
  • Design (16)
  • Digital Marketing (85)
  • Email marketing (8)
  • Events (47)
  • Internet (23)
  • Lead Generation (19)
  • Marketing Strategy (58)
  • MDi TV (16)
  • Measurement (27)
  • Mobile Apps (3)
  • Pauley Creative (31)
  • Presentations (6)
  • Social Media (93)
  • Twitter (16)
  • Uncategorized (10)
  • Web applications (16)

Most popular posts

  • Infographic: How do UK Architects use Twitter? 08 Jul , 2011
  • How are the top 15 construction companies using social media? 03 Jun , 2010
  • How the Top UK Construction Companies are Using Social Media Marketing in 2014 31 Jan , 2014
  • Case study: How a UK flooring company is using Pinterest 06 Feb , 2012

Call us on +44 (0) 1908 671707

business development strategy for construction company

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

Construction Business Development: Meeting New Challenges, Seeking Opportunity

Profile image of Christopher Anderson

Related Papers

Construction Management and Economics

Wilco Tijhuis

business development strategy for construction company

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the marketing practices adopted by contractors in project-based industries to win new business and maintain relationships with existing clients.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed eight such contractors, and used activity theory as a lens to analyze the results. The authors investigated project marketing activities at four stages of the project contract life cycle, and against four enablers of collaboration.FindingsThe authors have identified that the service-dominant logic pervades project marketing. Through the project contract life cycle the marketing activity starts with a strategic focus, becomes tactical, then operational and returns to strategic. Project marketing involves executive managers, marketing, client or account managers and project managers. Project managers have a key responsibility for project marketing. The four enablers of collaboration, relationships, communication, going-with and trust, support eac...

Víctor Yepes

Construction enterprises are aware of the importance of involving marketing in their management functions as a way to adapt themselves not only to the continuous changes in the industry, but also to satisfy their clients’ demands, while being competitive and improving their business strategy. This paper shows the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the state of the art of marketing in the construction industry. The study was conducted through a literature search, with ubsequent processing and analysis of the papers found. Despite the efforts made in the last decade, it is difficult to generalize how to apply marketing in construction companies, due to the special features of this sector. Nevertheless, there is a range of possible strategies that could be used by construction companies, and once they know their clients’ needs they will be able to choose what strategies to apply. Research gaps such as marketing implementation, marketing differentiation according to the type of clients, and application of information technologies are proposed.

aBDUL AZIZ AZIZ

Civil Engineering Journal (CivileJournal.org)

Marketing management plays a crucial role in successful companies. However, marketing has been either misunderstood or entirely neglected in numerous construction companies because it is difficult to apply conventional marketing strategies due to specific characteristics of the industry. This study systematically investigates the characteristics of the construction industry and their effects on marketing management. A systematic literature review covering scientific papers from 1995 to 2015 (556 scientific papers) identifies 16 characteristics, which are organized into two main categories—the construction industry and construction product-related industry. 'Fragmentation' was the most highlighted characteristic. A total of 10 identified characteristics, according to the experts' opinions gathered through the questionnaire, may affect the construction marketing, of which "competitive bidding mechanism" and "project-based nature of the industry" have the greatest effect. Through a combination of literature review and focus group study, the challenges resulting from each of these 10 particularities regarding various dimensions of marketing are examined and practical solutions are suggested for overcoming these challenges. The main suggestion is the modification of the traditional marketing mix (4Ps) by eliminating " place " and adding four elements—profile, pooling, phase, and presenter. Therefore, a tailored marketing mix for construction companies is developed, with seven elements (7Ps). Moreover, marketing research and marketing intelligence systems are vital marketing tools for construction companies and should allocate adequate resources and responsible staffing levels for these activities.

Independent Journal of Management & Production

Onyinye Sofolahan

Construction firms are not dedicated to the comprehensive adoption of marketing concepts and strategy, and thus do not enjoy the benefits of profit maximization, client satisfaction and loyalty and improved overall organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is, to assess the perception of construction professionals regarding the factors influencing the choice of marketing strategies adopted by their construction firms. A questionnaire survey approach was used in the study. The questionnaires were administered to construction professionals within the study area, Frequency, Percentile, Mean item score and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyses the data collected. The study found that employees' competence, technical knowledge of the firm, macroeconomic environment, and innovation are the major factors that influence the choice of marketing strategy. It was concluded that a firm's employee's knowledge and competencies and technological innovation plays a criti...

Rizwan Farooqui

Marketing departments and strategies are prevalent tools that can be found in almost every successful company and industry, but considered a rarity amidst the construction industry. The aim of this paper is to provide current and factual reasons for the small role that marketing strategies and strategic plans are playing in the majority of companies within the construction industry. Few questions that need to be addressed are “Do construction contractors feel they need marketing?”, “Are they currently employing any marketing strategies?” etc. In order to answer these questions a questionnaire survey was conducted from the US Contractors. It is attested by the results of the survey that a majority of construction companies and firms believe they can take advantage by reinvesting in their businesses through marketing. It is important to understand and categorize the marketing strategies employed by construction firm in contrast to the general manufacturing or services marketing method...

JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

This article explores the necessity of applying marketing practices by engineering consulting firms that serve the construction industry. Most construction professionals perceive marketing as an unimportant management function. The present study provides support to similar previous studies conducted in other countries which found marketing is more ‘trappings’ rather than ‘substance’. Stiff competition drives civil and structural engineering (C&S) firms in Malaysia to suit their marketing practices in ensuring survival. In relation to this, company profile or characteristics such as firm organization, operational structure and nature of environment help providing an explanation on the readiness of these firms to fully implement marketing practices. The results also suggest that these firms use minimal marketing with the professional image projected by the directors or principals as playing an important role. Santrauka Nagrinėjama rinkodaros praktikos taikymo būtinybė statybos pramonė...

RELATED PAPERS

Pharmaceutical research

Charles D . Hepler

Ginecología y obstetricia de México

Claudia Sánchez Bravo

E3S Web of Conferences

Dorota Jopek

Osmin Ferrer

Revista Española de Patología

MILCOM 2008 - 2008 IEEE Military Communications Conference

GILANG RIZKI AJI PUTRA 2019

Agricultural Science Digest, Volume 43 Issue 2: 243-247 (April 2023)

Arcc Journals

arXiv: Algebraic Geometry

Indian Journal of Fisheries

Osama Ahmad

BMC Health Services Research

Markku Tykkylainen

International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies

Konan Ahoutou

Blanca Anguera Domenjó

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Michael Swan

Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları

Meşkure yılmaz

mohamed konaté

Journal of Saudi Chemical Society

Abdelbaki Djebaili

Revista Brasileira de Ciência e Movimento

Gabriel Bergmann

Christoffer Theis

International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology

Jerry Murphy

Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences

Qamar Bashir

Acta Crystallographica Section E Structure Reports Online

Lhou MAJIDI

arXiv (Cornell University)

eitam vinegrad

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024

Join TheConstructor to ask questions, answer questions, write articles, and connect with other people. When you join you get additional benefits.

Confirm Password *

First Name *

Last Name *

Country Select a country… Åland Islands Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belau Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba CuraÇao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao S.A.R., China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of Ireland Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (Dutch part) Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia/Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom (UK) United States (US) Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Western Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

By registering, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . *

Log in to TheConstructor to ask questions, answer people’s questions, write articles & connect with other people. When you join you get additional benefits.

Join for free or log in to continue reading...

Username or email *

Forgot Password

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.

Sorry, you do not have permission to ask a question, You must log in to ask a question. Join now!

The Constructor Logo

The Constructor

7 marketing strategies to promote your construction business.

Do you need to remove the ads? Join now!

🕑 Reading time: 1 minute

If you are in the construction business and want to promote your company, you need the best marketing strategies available. Doesn’t matter if you work by yourself or have a team of experts – you’ll face challenges either way.

business development strategy for construction company

Luckily, many different marketing strategies can help you stay ahead in the game and improve your company’s marketing – white label link building being one of the more popular ones. This type of link building is a process where an SEO service provider builds a link for an SEO agency.

Other than white label link building, you have several highly effective options. We’ve composed a list of the top seven marketing strategies for promoting your construction business. 

7 Marketing Strategies for Promoting your Construction Business

business development strategy for construction company

1. Include your staff in the marketing campaign

To make a potential client your future employee, you have to gain their trust. However, the competition is fierce in the construction market, and achieving a trustworthy relationship can be challenging. What can you do?

Show the human side of your company by including your staff in the marketing campaign. The clients will be able to see the smiling faces of your employees and start feeling like they know your company to an extent. As a result, they’ll develop more trust in your business.

Adding a human element into each marketing strategy may be a small but crucial step in increasing the trust between you and your potential clients.

2. Make your video content compelling 

The construction industry is visual, after all. Why not make your video content engaging then? Making compelling video content is a great way to let your brand acquire a personality.

A video that highlights all the critical features of your projects, a video focusing on your team and their personalities, or a video showing a particular construction process can boost your marketing strategy and help you gain a bigger audience. 

3. Encourage past customers to come back!

The most important audience is the one that you already have. As much as you find it important to get new customers, keeping the audience you already have is equally important.

After you complete a job for a particular customer, it would be a good idea to follow up with them after a few months and see if they have another project for you or if they need help with something else. That way, you will maintain positive relationships with existing customers.

4. Promote your business on social media

You might be amazed to find out that more than 75% of construction businesses promote their brand and products on social media. Standing out on these platforms is very challenging, but platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow you to target specific groups and specific locations. Start there.

5. Make a transparent website

Your construction company’s website should always be easy-to-navigate, transparent, simple, and attractive. If your website has all of these four traits, your lead will be able to get all the information fast without getting turned off or overwhelmed with unnecessary info.

6. Set up Google ads

Why should you take advantage of ads on Google? It’s pretty simple – they are the types of ads that are made for your business. When you configure them correctly, a link to your website and phone number will appear when someone types “best construction company near me” on Google.

7. Make sure clients can easily find your phone number

Potential leads won’t be able to get in touch with you for remodeling their living room if they have to dig through your website for several minutes to find your phone number. Therefore, make sure that you have your phone number right next to your company’s logo, whether it’s on your homepage, a flyer, a billboard, or a Google ad.

The benefits of creating a blog for your construction business

Though people usually relate blogs to fashion, lifestyle, and food, we’re here to show you that a construction business can also benefit from some content. A construction blog is an ingenious way to get more customers and build trust between your business and clients.

Including a blog on your website can compel potential clients to contact you for a construction business because they found helpful information on your blog posts. Other than strengthening the quality of your website, a construction blog is excellent for improving your business’s SEO .

In addition, a construction blog can lead to a more organic and better flow of traffic in your construction business. Don’t neglect the benefits a construction blog can bring to your company.

The Importance of Partnering with Similar Businesses 

Yet another great marketing strategy for promoting your construction business is partnering with a peer business from the same industry. In the first lines, you’ll get a chance to present your company to a completely new market.

Next, you’ll get a chance for cross-promotion. In co-marketing based on trust and mutual interest, there’s always room to find similarities between your brand and your partner’s brand and expand marketing efforts on both sides.

The three key points to master when partnering with another construction company are:

  • Partnering with a construction business that can help you in some way;
  • Making sure that your partner has a big audience;
  • Ensuring that you build relationships only with companies that have similar brands.

Teamwork between two companies in similar niches and with similar goals can be incredibly productive.

Conclusion 

We hope that the seven top marketing strategies we have listed above will help you take the marketing of your construction company to the next level. Besides placing your employees first and creating a compelling website, promoting your company on social media can also help.

Partnering up with a construction company with similar brands, goals, and interests will always lead to an expansion of marketing efforts. Finally, including a blog on your website, even if you consider it unnecessary, will always grasp the attention of your clients. Good luck!

What are the Reasons Behind the Growth of UAE’s Construction Industry?

How to Become a Construction Contractor? A Step-by-Step Guide

Façade Lighting Solutions For Building Structures

Related Posts

Risks in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects

Risks in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects

Exploring The World Of Construction Workers: Duties And Skills Required

Exploring The World Of Construction Workers: Duties And Skills Required

Featured Content

" "

Cost Management

" "

Artificial Intelligence

Meet BCG X banner

BCG X Product Library

  • “Beyond GBS” organizations strengthen their ownership of end-to-end outcomes. They run GBS like a business in terms of performance, cost, and service levels, and they attract more attention from the C-suite.
  • They lead digitization initiatives, scale their best practices internally using consistent structures and processes globally, and provide new value-added services adjacent to their core delivery.
  • Implementing this model involves building a robust digital and data backbone, fostering internal partnerships, and redefining the GBS mandate to include value-added activities beyond traditional transactional processes.

Subscribe to our People Strategy E-Alert.

" "

People Strategy

/ article, transforming global business services into a strategic function.

By  Fabrice Roghé ,  Sascha Kleebaur , and  Kai Sondermann

Key Takeaways

Once a revolutionary organization inside many companies, global business services (GBS) today stands at a crossroads. Created in the 1990s to centralize transactional tasks for finance, HR, and other internal units, many GBS functions have reached a strategic tipping point—requiring corporate leaders to make crucial decisions on the future of their GBS organizations.

A recent BCG study showed that only 41% of companies believe that GBS creates value. With that in mind, the leaders of these support functions must raise their game at a time when companies around the world face unprecedented challenges in how they operate. Marginal adjustments to GBS strategy are no longer sufficient.

As the limitations of traditional models become evident, GBS must transition from a purely operational role to a more strategic one. Although global business service organizations have been at the forefront of change in the past, they now need to reinvent themselves to build support and enabling functions that are more resilient, flexible, and scalable. They also need to expand their charters and provide more value-added activities such as collections and payments, customer management, and even sales functions.

The next generation of GBS functions are becoming more closely intertwined with corporate success—and the GBS model, as a key amplifier of change, is about to take center stage, creating value beyond its legacy contributions. GBS can lead the transformation of areas such as customer experience , operations , and worker training. This requires corporations to adopt a new mindset—and a new framework that we call “Beyond GBS.”

A Bold Vision for Global Business Services

Under the traditional GBS model, C-suite and GBS executives alike have focused largely on consolidating tasks, maximizing transactional processing efficiency, and minimizing costs by bundling resources and operating from low-cost locations around the world.

But the legacy model may have hit its limits: between 2009 and 2021, overhead costs—as measured by sales and general administration—grew 35% more than overall corporate margins, giving rise to what’s known as the “GBS value dilemma.”

This creates three imperatives for GBS organizations:

  • To further strengthen their ownership of end-to-end outcomes
  • To run GBS like a business in terms of performance, cost, and service levels
  • To attract more attention from the C-suite

The “Beyond GBS” model puts these imperatives into practice. It offers a bold vision, strategy, mandate, and governance structure that is aligned with the company’s strategic direction and initiatives and promoted by the group, business, and functional leadership. “Beyond GBS” organizations lead digitization initiatives, scale their best practices internally around the world using consistent structures and processes, and provide new value-added services adjacent to their core delivery.

Taking Support Functions to the Next Level

“Beyond GBS” is the highest of five levels in the support-function journey. At the first, or bottom, level are the roughly 15% of companies that either have no GBS function or have standalone centers siloed across multiple geographies. Companies at this level suffer the most: one company we’ve studied has 117,000 accounting cost centers for 72,000 employees, 150 reporting lines between shared services and the business units they support, and a $5 billion gap in cost optimization versus their peers.

The second level, representing 40% of companies, are those organizations still running multifunctional service factories. The third level and fourth levels, each representing another 20% of companies, consist of organizations with integrated global support functions.

The fifth, and highest, level consists of the roughly 5% of all companies who have gone beyond GBS. These companies have digitized transactional activities and developed effective platform deliveries and end-to-end solutions. They achieve all this while rebalancing workloads seamlessly between global worksites.

Reaching this top level remains a challenge for many companies. In our experience, GBS organizations achieve roughly 80% of the potential gains—the low-hanging fruit, in other words—if they depend on labor arbitrage, process efficiencies, and the first-time digitization of processes. Despite the complexity and high costs of most GBS initiatives, GBS teams tend to hit an early ceiling and incremental improvements tend to be small. This is particularly true for laggard GBS functions, which represent about two-thirds of all organizations.

The success of GBS organizations is mainly limited by weakly aligned top-management GBS priorities, a nonaligned target picture, and subsequently having a very rigid governance and ineffective steering of the GBS model. Leapfrogging from a less mature GBS model to an advanced one has only proven successful in isolated cases, given the lack of synchronized implementation across the organization. Thus, rather than focusing on incremental improvement of traditional practices—which add value for no more than 10% of companies—companies need to completely rethink and redesign the GBS function.

How to Get Started

Before implementing the best practices of the “Beyond GBS” model, corporate leaders must ensure that they have a firm foundation in place. That starts with an enhanced digital and data backbone with the latest technology solutions and continues with the following three building blocks:

  • An agile internal customer front line that brings GBS close to its customers and fosters rapid delivery of services and a responsive iteration of new offerings
  • A highly effective delivery platform that drives exceptional operations, focuses on value-adding activities, and attracts high-quality employees
  • A digital innovation center that delivers a steady stream of new capabilities and technologies, enabling constant improvement in the GBS unit’s interfaces and delivery platforms

Assured that a solid foundation is in place, organizations can then begin implementing the “Beyond GBS” model. There are five steps companies should take to unlock the most business value:

1. Forge internal “value partnerships.” This step repositions GBS teams from a siloed, transactional processing unit to a partner that can help other business units optimize their processes to create total company value through outcome- and impact-based solutions.

2. Boldly rescope your mandate. Leaders need to think beyond the transactional core mindset of the past to a bolder, broader, and even more radical vision of what GBS can provide. To be sure, transactional processing cannot be ignored. But by embracing AI and analytics, GBS can play a valuable role in ESG and compliance reporting and user experience design—all with a clear link to overall strategy and business outcomes. Once the foundation is secured, GBS leaders have an opportunity to sell the CEO and C-suite team on a broader charter.

3. Expand talent and capability access. To expand beyond extended-workbench thinking requires the creation of vibrant capability hubs and global capability teams that provide nonclassical GBS services, including R&D and other center-of-expertise activities. This shift allows these services to collocate to locations with the best mix of cost and talent. At the same time, attracting and retaining the best talent remain priorities and can be enhanced with upskilling and cross-skilling initiatives. This approach places greater emphasis on expertise and digital capabilities.

4. Rethink global ways of working. This critical step moves teams beyond the obligatory, if not forced, cross-functional and organizational alignment to a new model promoting institutionalized global ownership. This includes a globally organized mandate and the formation of distributed teams with global coverage. The goal is to maximize the contribution of global team members. GBS leaders can play a key role in fostering global functional ownership that enhances the contributions of these global teams.

5. Build in scale and resilience. The optimal setup for a “Beyond GBS” approach is a platform-based operating and technology model that provides agility, flexibility, and a healthy redundancy of globalized and localized services along a multicapability hub infrastructure that leverages external partners. The three key components of this model are a customer-centric interface, an agile (and digital) “center of competence,” and a global network of shared delivery platforms managed by the GBS team and vendors as needed. This setup ensures the company is globally resilient even as it scales—and enables the company to continuously rebalance workloads based on the geopolitical climate.

In the “Beyond GBS” model, vibrant service hubs are built around a globally consistent, modular approach that enables new “plug-and-play” services. This approach also allows for the collocation of noncore GBS functions at hubs to leverage GBS’s infrastructure costs and capabilities in the broader organizational ecosystem.

The main objective, of course, is to attract and retain the best talent while operating at the lowest costs. In addition, building out core process standards atop a digital and data backbone based on the latest tech solutions will create even more value. Leading these efforts are GBS’s global process owners, who will shape service operations globally and lead process optimization and digitization initiatives.

The evolution of the traditional GBS function into a more strategic business unit creates vast new opportunities for companies. By expanding beyond its historic back-office role, GBS teams can provide real value and drive impact rather than maintaining rigid structures and services. Solutions will become innovative and highly customized. And most important, “Beyond GBS” functions operate as business-like entities—actively managed by leading talent and measured against clear outcomes.

Headshot of BCG expert Fabrice Roghé Managing Director & Senior Partner

Managing Director & Senior Partner

Sascha-Kleebaur.jpg

Partner and Associate Director

Kai Sondermann

Partner and Associate Director, Organization Transformation

ABOUT BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

© Boston Consulting Group 2024. All rights reserved.

For information or permission to reprint, please contact BCG at [email protected] . To find the latest BCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others, please visit bcg.com . Follow Boston Consulting Group on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) .

Read our research on: Immigration & Migration | Podcasts | Election 2024

Regions & Countries

A look at black-owned businesses in the u.s..

The owner of Marcus Book Store, the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the U.S., talks with her employee about a shop display in Oakland, California, in December 2021. (Amy Osborne/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

More than one-in-five Black adults in the United States say owning a business is essential to financial success, according to a September 2023 Pew Research Center survey . While Black-owned businesses have grown significantly in the U.S. in recent years, they still make up a small share of overall firms and revenue, according to our analysis of federal data.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to examine the characteristics of Black-owned businesses in the United States. The analysis relies primarily on data from the 2022  Annual Business Survey  (ABS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

The survey – conducted annually since 2017 – includes all non-farm U.S. firms with paid employees and receipts of $1,000 or more in 2021. Firms are defined as businesses “consisting of one or more domestic establishments under its ownership or control.” Majority business ownership is characterized in the survey as having 51% or more of the stock or equity in the firm. The Census Bureau counts multiracial firm owners under all racial categories they identify with; Hispanic firm owners may be of any race. Read more about the ABS methodology .

A bar chart showing that about 3% of U.S. businesses were Black-or African American-owned in 2021.

In 2021, there were 161,031 U.S. firms with majority Black or African American ownership , up from 124,004 in 2017, according to the latest estimates from the Annual Business Survey  (ABS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation. Black-owned firms’ gross revenue soared by 43% during this timespan, from an estimated $127.9 billion in 2017 to $183.3 billion in 2021.

Despite this growth, majority Black-owned businesses made up only about 3% of all U.S. firms that were classifiable by the race and ethnicity of their owners in 2021. And they accounted for just 1% of gross revenue from all classifiable companies that year. By comparison, in 2021, roughly 14% of all Americans were Black.

As has  long been the case , White majority-owned businesses made up the greatest share of classifiable firms (85%) and their revenue (93%) in 2021. About one-in-ten classifiable firms (11%) were majority-owned by Asian Americans, and no more than 7% had majority ownership by someone from another racial and ethnic group.

The Annual Business Survey classifies businesses as “majority Black- or African American-owned” if a Black owner has at least 51% equity in the firm. The same standard holds for business owners of other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The U.S. Census Bureau counts multiracial firm owners under all racial categories they identify with; Hispanic firm owners may be of any race. 

Not all U.S. businesses are classifiable by the race or ethnicity of their owners. In 2021, about 4% of all businesses in the U.S. were  not  classifiable by the race and ethnicity of their owners – though these firms accounted for 61% of total revenue. Ownership and revenue figures in this analysis are based on the roughly 5.7 million firms that  were  classifiable by the race and ethnicity of their owners in 2021, most of which are smaller businesses.

How many workers do Black-owned businesses employ?

Black or African American majority-owned firms provided income for roughly 1.4 million workers in 2021. Their annual payrolls were estimated at $53.6 billion.

Still, most Black-owned firms tend to be smaller businesses. Two-thirds had fewer than 10 employees in 2021 ; 13% had 10 to 49 employees and just 3% had 50 or more. Another 16% reported having no employees. (The ABS determines employment size by the number of paid workers during the March 12 pay period.)

What’s the most common sector for Black-owned businesses?

By far, health care and social assistance. About 45,000 of the roughly 161,000 U.S. companies with majority Black or African American ownership, or 28% of the total, were part of this sector in 2021.

Looked at a different way, 7% of  all  classifiable U.S. businesses in the health care and social assistance sector were majority Black-owned that year .

A chart showing that health care and social assistance is the most common sector among Black-or African American-owned businesses.

Other common sectors that year included:

  • Professional, scientific and technical services (comprising 14% of all Black-owned businesses)
  • Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (8%)
  • Transportation and warehousing (8%)
  • Retail trade (6%)
  • Construction (6%)

Where are Black-owned businesses located?

A map showing that Black- or African American-owned businesses made up greatest share of firms in District of Columbia, Georgia and Maryland in 2021.

Most Black or African American majority-owned businesses (87%) are located in urban areas. Just 5% are in rural areas – that is, places with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants, under  the Census Bureau’s definition .

Some of the most populous states also have the greatest number of Black majority-owned businesses. Florida had 18,502 such businesses in 2021, California had 15,014 and Georgia had 14,394.

Black majority-owned businesses made up the greatest  share  of all classifiable firms in the District of Columbia (15%), Georgia and Maryland (8% each).

Who are Black business owners?

  • They’re more likely to be men than women. Some 53% of Black-owned firms in 2021 had men as their majority owners, while 39% had women majority owners. Another 8% had equal male-female ownership. The gender gap is larger among classifiable U.S. firms overall: 63% were majority-owned by men in 2021, 22% were majority-owned by women and 14% had equal male-female ownership.
  • They tend to be middle-aged. Roughly half (49%) of Black or African American business owners who reported their age group were ages 35 t0 54 in 2021. Another 28% were 55 to 64, and just 7% were younger than 35.
  • A majority have a college degree. Among owners who reported their highest level of education completed, 27% had a bachelor’s degree and 34% had a graduate or professional degree in 2021.

What motivates Black entrepreneurs?

When asked to choose from a list of reasons why they opened their firm, about nine-in-ten Black or African American majority owners who responded said an important reason was the opportunity for greater income; a desire to be their own boss; or wanting the best avenue for their ideas, goods and services. Balancing work and family life (88%) and having flexible hours (85%) were also commonly cited.

For most Black or African American majority owners, their business is their primary source of income . Seven-in-ten of those who reported income information in 2021 said this was the case.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Feb. 21, 2023.

business development strategy for construction company

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Fresh data delivered Saturday mornings

8 facts about Black Americans and the news

Key facts about the nation’s 47.9 million black americans, facts about the u.s. black population, african immigrants in u.s. more religious than other black americans, and more likely to be catholic, across religious groups, a majority of black americans say opposing racism is an essential part of their faith, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Cart

  • SUGGESTED TOPICS
  • The Magazine
  • Newsletters
  • Managing Yourself
  • Managing Teams
  • Work-life Balance
  • The Big Idea
  • Data & Visuals
  • Reading Lists
  • Case Selections
  • HBR Learning
  • Topic Feeds
  • Account Settings
  • Email Preferences

How to Market Sustainable Products

  • Frédéric Dalsace
  • Goutam Challagalla

business development strategy for construction company

Many companies overestimate customers’ appetite for sustainable products, flooding the market with offerings that don’t sell. The reality is, social and environmental benefits have less impact on purchasing decisions than basic product attributes do. Consumers buy products to get specific jobs done, and only after they find something that will do that will they look for a product that provides some social or environmental advantage.

Of course, that’s only if they value sustainability. Not everyone does, and marketers need to recognize that. Some customers (greens) place a premium on it, some (blues) value it only moderately, and some (grays) don’t care about it and view it skeptically. The three segments cannot all be approached in the same way. How sustainable product benefits interact with traditional benefits is also critical: They can have no impact on a product’s performance (independence), diminish it (dissonance), or enhance it (resonance). Marketers need to follow different playbooks for independent, dissonant, and resonant products, tailoring their approaches to green, blue, and gray customers with each.

Three paths to success

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Many companies overestimate consumers’ appetite for sustainable products, flooding the market with offerings that don’t sell well.

The Opportunity

By understanding how sustainability features interact with a product’s core benefits, companies can devise effective marketing strategies for different consumer segments.

The Solution

Assess whether your sustainable offering’s performance is equivalent, inferior, or superior to that of conventional alternatives. Tailor marketing messages to customers according to how they value sustainability versus traditional attributes.

When companies market the sustainability features of their offerings, they often overlook a fundamental truth: Social and environmental benefits have less impact on customers’ decisions than basic product attributes do. With any purchase, consumers are first trying to get a specific job done. Only after they find something that will help them do that job—and only if sustainability is important to them—will they look for a product that in addition confers a social or environmental advantage. No one decides to buy a chocolate bar to, say, improve the working conditions of farmers on the Ivory Coast. People buy chocolate, first and foremost, because they want to indulge in a small pleasure. No one decides to buy an electric car to prevent climate change. People buy cars because they need transportation; reducing their carbon footprint is an ancillary benefit.

  • FD Frédéric Dalsace is a professor of strategy and marketing at IMD.
  • GC Goutam Challagalla is a professor of strategy and marketing at IMD.

Partner Center

IMAGES

  1. 10 Key Steps to an Effective Construction Business Growth Strategy

    business development strategy for construction company

  2. Creating a Construction Company Growth Strategy Plan

    business development strategy for construction company

  3. Construction Business Strategy Diagram Powerpoint Slide

    business development strategy for construction company

  4. FREE 25+ Sample Construction Business Plan Templates in Google Docs

    business development strategy for construction company

  5. A Sample Construction Company Business Plan Template

    business development strategy for construction company

  6. Creating a Construction Company Growth Strategy Plan

    business development strategy for construction company

VIDEO

  1. Grow your construction business fast!!! #construction #buisness #network #marketing

  2. business plan

  3. business plan

  4. business plan

  5. Multiply Your Revenue with This Strategy

  6. Construction Business Management

COMMENTS

  1. Business Development Best Practices

    Business Development Best Practices Every month the Business Development Committee reaches out to small business owners, marketing directors, and public relations specialists to gather valuable insight into the rapidly growing construction industry.

  2. A Construction Business Strategy + Strategic Plan Template

    A good construction business strategy will help you: Understand the construction industry landscape Identify opportunities for growth Set realistic goals and objectives Develop a plan for marketing and sales Secure funding from investors How to Develop a Great Construction Business Strategy

  3. Construction Business Development & Sales Incentive Plans

    Fundamentals Of Effective Sales Incentive Plans Employees are the lifeblood of every construction company . No matter the size of the company, each individual serves a purpose, and their performance either helps or hinders the organization - there is no middle ground. With that in mind, realize that the goal of every business owner should be to:

  4. Developing a Strategic Construction Business Plan for Growth

    1. Establish an internal baseline. What is your business objective? Identify your core competencies. What are you good at? What is your source of volume? What is your commercial objective? 2. Establish an external baseline. Identify market dynamics and external factors that impact your business. Define your market. Conduct a competitive analysis.

  5. Effective Business Development & Lead Generation in Construction

    For construction companies, the primary goal of business development is to create a pipeline of projects, allowing them to expand their portfolio and increase revenue. When it comes to business development in the construction industry, there is much more than meets the eye.

  6. Top Five Business Development Strategies for ...

    Home Business The Top Five Strategies for Staying in Front of your Clients Invest in the business development of your construction company by incorporating these touch point methods of...

  7. Creating a Construction Company Growth Strategy

    2. Identify and Measure Your Key Business Objectives After you've created a value proposition, consider using the following key business objectives to measure your success and help your company grow: Maintaining a steady stream of income to make a profit Using your resources to increase productivity Providing excellent customer service

  8. Construction business improvement strategy

    A building trades business improvement strategy is a plan of action implemented by a building trades firm with the goal of improving overall productivity. This can include improving the projects management processes, adopting innovative technologies, or increasing marketing efforts.

  9. Ultimate Guide to Grow Your Construction Business

    Lead Generation Strategies Estimating and Bidding Strategies Value Building and Follow up Strategies Project Management and Business Strategies Setting your Goals and Fixing Existing Issues Before starting, you need to set a few short and medium-term goals so you can implement the correct strategies.

  10. How To Create A Construction Business Development Plan

    The Importance of Creating a Construction Business Development Plan. A construction business development plan is a critical tool for any construction business. This document outlines your construction business goals, strategies, and tactics. It also serves as a roadmap for success, detailing the steps you need to take to achieve your goals.

  11. Contractor Business Development

    To help our construction clients, prospects and others, Barnes Dennig has outlined some business development strategies below. A Word on Marketing First, it's important to distinguish marketing from business development. Equally vital, marketing is all about your company's message and brand.

  12. 4 Steps to Success: Business Development for General Contractors

    Step 1: Focus on systems, not goals. For some GCs, hiring for a previously non-existing position requires a bit of faith that the team or individual will "figure it out." It means potentially under-paying the under-experienced.

  13. 12 Top Construction Business Strategies

    12 Top Construction Business Strategies Home Business Construction Strategies for Success in a Construction Business Those who wish to start a construction business also need to learn how to develop it in ways that will allow them to achieve their desired level of success.

  14. Business Development in Construction Companies

    Business Development in Construction Companies Small Business | Business Planning & Strategy | Business Development By Nancy Wagner Finding enough construction jobs to keep your...

  15. 4 Steps to Success: Business Development for General ...

    Business development is a marathon, not a sprint. The construction business development professional should prioritize daily habit-building to lay the foundation for continued success. This part is much more psychological than business-savvy, but one should strive to make new habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying or they simply won ...

  16. How to Write a Business Plan for a Construction Company

    The basic business plan elements you should never skip — including for construction businesses — include: Executive summary: This section outlines the business plan, stating its purpose. The executive summary can also include the mission statement, a single statement that outlines the company's purpose. Company identity: It holds the ...

  17. 10 Key Strategies To Grow Your Construction Business

    How To Grow a Construction Business: 10 Strategies. Here are our top strategies for taking your construction business from small-scale to high-growth. Secure repeat business. Selling to existing clients is often easier and cheaper than securing new ones, and it's a great strategy to consider when exploring how to grow a small construction ...

  18. Construction Business Development: Overcome The "Business Is Slow"

    Construction Business Development: Overcome The "Business Is Slow" Excuse by George Hedley Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Determine what is preventing your construction company from growing, and make changes today. Editor's Note: This is the first in our 2011 series, "Profit Builder."

  19. A Game-Changing Business Development Strategy to Achieve Consistent

    Business Development Plan is a document that outlines how you implement your business development strategy. It can be a plan for an individual, a practice or the firm as a whole. Its scope covers both the marketing and sales functions, as they are so intertwined in most professional services firms. Here are the key steps to develop and document ...

  20. 10 Key Steps to an Effective Construction Business Growth Strategy

    3. Verify your revenue streams. Make it clear from the beginning what your current revenue streams are and which ones could be created in order to increase the profitability of your business. Once you've identified the potential for new revenue streams, always consider whether they're sustainable in the long run. 4.

  21. STRATEGIES FOR CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

    No.R3 STRATEGIES FOR CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Ayesha Wahid Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture College of Engineering University of Bahrain, P.O. Box: 32038 Kingdom of Bahrain [email protected] ABSTRACT According to IHS Global Insight, US$175 billion was spent on construction in India in 2007 after growing 156% since 2000 [1.]

  22. (PDF) Construction Business Development: Meeting New Challenges

    Marketing departments and strategies are prevalent tools that can be found in almost every successful company and industry, but considered a rarity amidst the construction industry. The aim of this paper is to provide current and factual reasons for the small role that marketing strategies and strategic plans are playing in the majority of ...

  23. 7 Marketing Strategies To Promote Your Construction Business

    Start there. 5. Make a transparent website. Your construction company's website should always be easy-to-navigate, transparent, simple, and attractive. If your website has all of these four traits, your lead will be able to get all the information fast without getting turned off or overwhelmed with unnecessary info. 6.

  24. Business Strategy and Digital Transformation Solutions

    StrategyAccelerator™: Where Strategy Meets Execution. Developed by our MonitorDeloitte Strategy practice, StrategyAccelerator is a transformation management solution that drives collaboration, transparency, and accountability from ideation through realization. The solution combines Deloitte's proprietary strategy methodologies with a leading strategic execution and program management ...

  25. Global Business Services as a Strategic Function

    Once a revolutionary organization inside many companies, global business services (GBS) today stands at a crossroads. Created in the 1990s to centralize transactional tasks for finance, HR, and other internal units, many GBS functions have reached a strategic tipping point—requiring corporate leaders to make crucial decisions on the future of ...

  26. 10 Essential Managerial Skills and How to Develop Them

    Managers who are good problem solvers have an easier time meeting company goals and objectives. 10. Strategic thinking. Managers who can strategically think offer great value to companies. Strategic thinking involves the following: Analyzing data to come up with strategies. Creating strategies for meeting company goals and objectives

  27. A look at Black-owned businesses in the U.S.

    In 2021, there were 161,031 U.S. firms with majority Black or African American ownership, up from 124,004 in 2017, according to the latest estimates from the Annual Business Survey (ABS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation. Black-owned firms' gross revenue soared by 43% during this timespan, from an estimated $127.9 billion in 2017 to $183.3 billion in 2021.

  28. How to Market Sustainable Products

    Summary. Many companies overestimate customers' appetite for sustainable products, flooding the market with offerings that don't sell. The reality is, social and environmental benefits have ...