Think of all the decisions you made over the last five to 10 years that affected your future and where you are today. Now think of all those decisions you didn’t make you wish you had. Remember when you were busy signing new contracts, getting plenty of business, trying to juggle all your commitments, scheduling crews, putting out fires, and doing everything you could to keep everyone happy? During this time, it was hard to do everything you wanted to do. Because of the stress and workload, many construction business owners postponed making good critical decisions.
Now imagine it’s your turn to start a new season. What should you do differently to win the game of business? What tough decisions should you make? Where should you play the game and how? Will you keep doing what you’ve always done or decide to do whatever it takes to grow your business and make a profit? Below is the list of the top “Do-Overs” I hear from the many business owners I have surveyed.
Do-Over # 1: Invest Sooner Than Later!
When your business was busy, you didn’t have enough time to stop and look for investments. And you were growing, so most all of your cash flow went to fund your company’s growth. The snowball effect was keeping you excited as your business got bigger and bigger. The best decisions business owners can make is to use their business to create opportunities to invest in long term wealth building assets. Wealth building assets include investment real estate or service businesses that produce passive income over the long haul. A small investment over time returns much. No investment returns nothing.
Do-Over #2: Diversify, Market and Serve Customers Sooner Than Later!
The second most popular “Do-Over” I hear from seasoned business owners is they wish they would have built up a broader base of customers, worked on many different types of projects, and developed a solid marketing and referral program that delivered diversified types of profitable work.
Construction business owners say they would have invested in diversification by adding more in-depth capacity such as in-house engineering, green capabilities and design-build services. This would have expanded their ability to take on more complicated work with higher profit margins. Lastly, they would have added service divisions relying on ongoing maintenance accounts that regularly provide them with steady revenue.
Do-Over #3: Hire Better People Sooner Than Later!
A very big mistake business owners make, as they grow their business too quickly, is not to upgrade their management team and key employees fast enough. One of the first mistakes business owners admit to is hiring and promoting the wrong people who are less expensive than fully competent responsible employees. This holds back companies from making the money they should as problems and errors are repeated. To avoid this situation in the future, business owners agree that an experienced management team is key to your company reaching its financial goals. Great people allow companies to expand into more difficult and intense types of projects that return a higher profit margin.
Additionally, a systemized ongoing training program for all employees reduces field and management problems, increases customer satisfaction, and improves the bottom-line. With a training program in place, it becomes easier to delegate and make people accountable to achieve the results you want. If you were to do it over again, wouldn’t you hire better people sooner and implement an ongoing training program?
Do-Over #4: Go High Tech Sooner Than Later!
When you are busy, you don’t have time to invest in technology either. Construction company customers now demand instant communication, project websites, up-to-the-minute schedule updates, online procurement and BIM. With these added requirements to work on many project opportunities today, contractors are now faced with the choice to catch up with tech or just go after the simple jobs with increasing competition and lower margins.
A priority must be to install a fully integrated accounting, estimating, and project management software system that allows you to make good business decisions. This takes an investment to buy the best software, fund a training program, and hire a competent progressive manager to implement and maintain it to help you build a professional business.
Do-Over #5: What Will You Do Sooner Than Later!
The last “Do-Over” is your choice. What will you do different to better your company, grow and make a profit over the next five years? Don’t postpone doing what you know you should do. You walk by people, challenges, and problems everyday that need improvement, change or tough decisions. Sit down and make your list. Don’t wait. Start investing, diversifying, marketing, serving customers, hiring better people and becoming a high-tech company.
Reposted from Metal Construction News.