Entrepreneurs and small businesses owners are generally leading experts in their fields. Whether you’re in home building, remodeling, landscaping, hardscaping, room additions, or commercial builds, you likely know the tools, skills, and techniques of your trade better than anyone. But, at times, contractors and other business owners can lack in the business side of running the operation. Don’t let that happen to you. That’s where a smart business strategy comes in.
Simply put, a business strategy includes your goals, both short- and long-term. It’s your roadmap to growing, managing, and making decisions. Like any journey, you need both a destination and a map for getting there. That’s what a business strategy is. Now, let’s talk about some obstacles you’ll find along the way, as well as some solutions to get your contracting business on the journey to success.
Top Issues Contractors Face
The most common issues contractors have to overcome are organizational issues like keeping track of paperwork and meeting deadlines, bidding wars, and having trouble getting back to potential customers in a timely manner. It tends to be the day-to-day struggles that cause the most trouble — rarely do huge issues derail a business. Sure, there are investments that turn sour, supplier issues, and other large problems that happen over time, but most often what stands in the way of success is an accumulation of little things that together add up to big problems. Here are some ways to overcome some of those routine issues contractors face when developing a solid business strategy.
Growing Your Contracting Business
Growing a business isn’t easy, and growing pains are the real deal. For instance, you can’t hire until you get more winning bids, but how can you win bids without the workers? Even landing the best subcontractors can be difficult until you have a proven record. Though unavoidable, there is no reason you can’t overcome the most common growing pains. With more efficient processes, smart skills, and good reputation management, you can grow your business steadily and manageably. Read more about the details of growing a contracting business here.
Managing Subcontractors
As you grow your contracting business, you’ll lean less on subcontractors and more on your own employees. But for most small business owners, subcontractors are just a part of the overall business strategy. You can do a lot to smooth those relationships by writing clear and detailed contracts, practicing good communication skills, and managing both customer and subcontractor expectations. These are just a few of the ways you can be successful with your subcontractors. You can learn more about managing subcontractors here.
Winning Contracting Bids
Ah, the bidding wars. There always seems to be some contractor out there who can undercut even your rock-bottom prices. How can you win these contracts without going bankrupt? Start by stopping. Don’t even try to be the lowest bidder. Shoot for being the bidder with the highest quality. Do you use only the best materials? Do you have special skills that your competitors lack? Often, the contractor with the most to offer gets the bid over the cheapest. And frankly, those wins are the more lucrative contracts, anyway. You can dig deeper into the contractor business strategies for winning bids in this article.
Offering What Your Competitors Don’t
Sometimes, the difference in “making it” versus “rocking it” with your business strategy isn’t your prices or customer service or even your subcontractors. It’s what you can offer that the other guys can’t. What are the top emerging trends in your industry? For example, in the backyard renovation arena, tropical designs are out and the “in thing” is contemporary design. For interior design, modern designs with sleek, stark lines are in. Give customers the very cutting edge of design, and you’ll be scoring more bids than you can handle. At HFS Financial, we’ve got more ideas for things you can offer that your competitors don’t.
Another excellent offering that your competitors probably lack is a great financing option. Most contractors just let their customers go to the bank and take out a home equity loan for home renovations, landscaping projects, and other high-dollar contracts. What if you could offer your customers a fast loan option, with no staged funding, no home equity required, and not even a home appraisal process. You can. Find out more about offering your customers great financing options here.
HFS Financial may be your smartest business strategy of all. We can give your customers a fast answer about a loan. It only takes days — not weeks or months — to get their loan payout. That means losing fewer customers to financing problems. Often, in the time it takes them to get a bank loan, they’ve changed their minds about the project. Win more bids, keep more customers, and rock out your contractor business strategy with the help of HFS Financial.
There is no cost to become an HFS Financial dealer partner, and you pay nothing when a customer applies, is qualified, or when they receive funding. Qualified applicants get the loan, get the money, and get you paid. It really is that simple! Partner with HFS Financial today!