How to gain an unfair advantage over your competitors with this one simple tip.

Let’s discuss business. We all want a competitive advantage over our competitors, a way to hopefully win more work and gain more money. Today, we are going to discuss the number one way to gain an unfair advantage over your business competitors.

Relationships.

Maintaining good relationships is essential, no matter what type of business you run, no matter whereabouts in the organisation you sit.

Within the construction industry, though, one primary relationships trump them all.  

The relationship between Owners / Execs / Project Managers with their Subcontractors. 

So, how do we build and nurture these relationships in a business environment?

The first step. Take an active interest in your contractors’, focusing a little more on the human dimension; this will build goodwill.  

Simply put – if you help your subcontractors grow, they will help you grow. 

Question. Other than genuine care and consideration for your fellow man, how can we achieve this?

Ultimately effective ongoing relationships require us to establish and maintain trust. Respecting privacy and confidentiality must be maintained by all parties. Without these critical components, a relationship will not thrive. Keeping your subbies in the loop on potential work, delays and problems, will create a more trust-based working relationship.

But why bother? Right?
There are a hundred different subbies out there that can do the same job. 

Because ongoing business relationships create a competitive advantage

Research has shown that subcontractors are more likely to show a vested interest, provide better quotes and be in it for the long haul if they feel they are a vital partner on a project. They are more likely to be engaged and help solve problems as a team. 

Through all of these ways, you are creating a relationship with open communication channels – this allows for honest and practical feedback. Feedback from those “on the ground” is always insightful and you can learn so much from this. Your subbies and project leaders are privy to details that could potentially delay your project or cause cost overruns. These people are your specialists and that is why you are paying them. Doesn’t it seems a waste not to harness that feedback and gain improvements from their knowledge?

Another way to enhance your business relationships is to engage your key stakeholders in brainstorming sessions, planning reviews and improving processes and procedures within your business. 

While this all sounds like roses and wins all around, there is one thing you need to get right before this.

Selecting the CORRECT subbies.

In my experience, subcontractors’ selection process is not as vigorous or in-depth as it should be. Lack of specific criteria can lead to choosing the cheapest, not best contractor to partner with. 

So how do you get this right?

Before setting out ensure you create an essential list of what you need. This list needs to go above and beyond the basic technical skills.

Look at areas such as:

• Safety stats
• Quality Management
• HR
• Employee Satisfaction

This process may take longer than usual, but it will pay for itself in no time when you have a subcontractor on board that shares your values and works with you towards a common goal, rather than just the dollar figure on the bottom of their invoice.

Once you have good contractors onboard, you can focus on making the good contractors great, instead of making the not-so-good ones acceptable.

The subcontractor model works well in Australia because it allows organisations to adapt to changing workloads quickly and construction workers to move between projects, however, companies can lose out on quality, safety and delivery on some projects; this is why creating relationships and holding onto subcontractors can make such a difference to your business.  

Better construction relationships breed opportunity for all involved. For more business development ideas, head to our blog page – it is full of ways to grow your bottom line, today.

Thrive Technologies. We listen. We understand. We find solutions.