Category Archives: Business

Review of strategy is important for the growth of a construction company

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We often consider planning to be one of the most important components towards the growth of a business but there is something that is equally important and that is reviewing those plans. It makes absolutely no sense to prepare a plan if we do not take care to review it. Things may go haywire and we will not even get to know about it as long as we do not sit to check the ground reality. This is why reviewing the plans is very crucial for the growth of any company. It becomes all the more important when one is take care of his construction business. This form of the business has too many ups and downs in it and one has to go through a lot of hardships to put everything in place. To set things right, a lot of people have to get involved in various sets of planning and knowing the nature of the business which is pretty dynamic and where anything can happen at any moment, one needs to make sure that he keeps on checking if the actual are in sync with the proposed plan and if not take corrective measures to set it right.

Involving all the head of departments for setting the plan:-

When you are building a plan, it is essential that you involve the heads of all the departments so that they can all give their inputs pertaining to the cause of the plan. You can have deep insights from them about how the department can perform and if there will be any requirement of additional workforce in the due span. You can rely on their advices and then go about framing the plan. In this way, they all will be aware of your goals and then it just will not be your goal but will become the goal of the company. It is not just you who will be working hard to realize the goals but your entire team will be with you.

Have a quarterly meeting with all of them to check the actual:-

Reviewing of plans should be conducted once in 3 months. This lets us know the real picture from the proposed one and what needs to be done to get things back on track if at all it is out of place. It also ensures that things do not completely out of hand which is possible if you take up the same meeting after a year. You will probably find that the damage has become irreparable and may have to start all over. That will be a sad part for the management also a question on your leadership quality.

Check area of opportunities and eliminate threats:-

It is only during the review that you get to know the possible threats that exist and can act as a big danger to the project. You can’t get to know the threats while you chalk out the plan. In the same way, while you start working on a plan you also come to know if there are any more opportunities that you can explore. Pick up all the opportunities and try and eliminate the threats.

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Avoid making poor investments that can cost you your company

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Taking right decision and making good investments are both quite crucial for the success of any business and when it is about construction, you got to be sharper with your thinking skills. Any poor decision can cost your business a lot and simultaneously any bad investment can have a drastic impact on your business. When you are dealing with investments in the construction sector, you are ideally dealing with lot of money and you got to be doubly sure that the plan will not backfire before you go ahead with the decision of making some big investments. For instance, you plan to hire some men for a new project that you foresee to bag. You are somehow confident of the fact that you will be able to get the project and have therefore allocated capital to pay salary for the additional workforce. In this scenario, you are heavily investing on human resources. So as long as you are not completely sure about the project, you should hold up your plan to hire any further resource.

People have lost millions in their business after having made the mistake of making poor investments. They were not aware that situation will take a downturn and they will have a hard time to come up with it and will lose a major chunk of their business capital. Even the most powerful in the construction sector have to face the music at times and they learn their lessons the hard way. There have been cases where the head of the departments had to resign for taking callous investment decisions that has cost the company a bomb. Mighty construction companies at still able to take the blow of bad investments but it is irreparable loss to small construction houses and contractors who vie for every small project.

Buying heavy equipment has been one of the most common poor investments by big as well as small construction companies. For some reason they could not figure out the kind of heavy equipment they need and they end up buying machines that were not required in the first place. They realize it later that the machine they have bought was capable of doing multiple tasks and they need not buy more machines. Since they have already invested in heavy equipment, they are left with not many options. They either sell it off at a lesser price or let it out to others.

In case, they have taken loans to buy heavy equipment, things become all the more difficult. They have to pay the bank the entire amount along with the interest or else it might have an impact on their credit rating which is in no ways good for the business. You get investments from private investors who are not necessarily banks and they invest in you by knowing that you have a good credit rating. So any poor investment decision should not be the reason for your credit rating to take a dip. This is perhaps the last thing you would want to happen.

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Keep a Plan “B” handy when things do not go your way

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Businesses in any industry functions on lot of planning and strategies. The strategies are usually laid to keep things moving and to pursue the overall motto of the company and that is the growth of the company. But there are times when the plans that you have set up do not go in sync with the current situation and this is when there is a likeliness of things going out of control. This is when a Plan “B” comes into picture. By Plan “B”, we refer to a secondary plan which is in place to defend the company from any backlash that comes as a result of the failure of Plan “A”. So when you see that you are preparing a plan which you feel that has half a percentage chance to succeed, you should also think about preparing a correspondent plan that will take over the initial plan if that fails to work out.

Preparing a Plan “B” is easy but following it is difficult. You need to do some brainstorming and discuss things with people from all the departments on things that you should do if the initial plan does not work out. You may even get suggestions that you will find wise enough to be followed but the real challenge is to implement the secondary plan. You have to change the complete course of action from the first plan to the second. This is undoubtedly the most difficult part because it means that there has to be some sort of changes in every department and not everybody can easily accept changes nor it is simple to bring changes throughout the company if yours is a mighty big one. Therefore before you think about jumping for a Plan “B” it is imperative that you understand the pros and cons and also the shape it will give to your company.

If it is a plan that will not have a major impact on the functioning as well as the finances of the company, then perhaps there is no need to have a secondary plan. Yu can always term the first plan as obsolete and move on with something else. But the problem will be when you are thinking of acquiring another construction company where you will have the maximum stake. In situations like these, you not only put the future of the company at stake but also the interest of the shareholders who have invested their money by trusting your thought process. This means that you can’t afford to go wrong and in case if you do then there should be a plan to back the backlash of your initial plan.

Do not forecast a lot and work more on ground realities. When you forecast a lot, you keep a lot at stake and if your forecasts keeping going wrong, it adversely impacts you as well as the company. Being foresighted is good but if you forecast just on the basis that it will all go your way, then that may prove to be a bad move.

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Active marketing on social media websites

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Cut throat competition has led to invention of new and innovative marketing techniques. In order to stay in the market they all follow the various marketing channels to reach out to a large number of people. You may have a good reputation and have been running the business for a long time but it does not take a while for people to forget you if you fail to keep knocking the minds of people. People forgetting your presence can happen due to many reasons. However, the most primary one is there are multiple companies available in the market that produces the same quality stuff.
So if you miss to stay in the minds of people, there will be someone else who will take your place and soon you will be out of the league. This is quite a dangerous thing to happen and no tenured company will ever want this to happen. The same rule is applicable in the construction industry as well. In order to get new projects or work, you need to be known to others and it is possible only when you stay active on social media websites and speak in volume about your work.
Lay out a strategy in the first place:-
It is crucial that you first lay out a concrete strategy to put up the name of your construction company on social media sites. For this, you need to first have a website that talks about you and your company. The vision of your company should be clear in the website. Once you have your website in place, you need to locate the social media site that is most famous amongst masses. Now there are few websites that are known for casual purpose and some are for business purpose. You should be more active on the business one. However, that does not rule out your chance to post your work on other social media websites. What is important for you is to get known by as many people as it is possible. The more people know you and your work the more are your chances to get businesses from clients. Remember, every prospective client of yours also have an account for posting casual stuffs. They get to see your company on both types of social media sites and therefore they know about you sooner as compared to your competitors.
Be more active on professional social media website:-
You should be active on social media websites to gain attention of people but you should be more active on social media sites that are meant for professional purposes. There you will come across people who belong to your profession and the chance of getting work from them is more. Simultaneously, you will also bump across people who are skilled workmen and you may require their services for the completion of a project. There are websites that are exclusively used by Human Resources team of different companies to hire new talents. They go through the work experience of the job aspirants and if it matches their requirement they are informed about the date of interview. You can also hire skilled labor force from such websites.

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How to become a successful heavy equipment salesman

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Success in any industry and in any profession comes with determination, knowledge and the zeal to work hard in that stream. People should be running after achieving this basic criteria rest follows. Some people are of the opinion that selling a thing is the most difficult job. But as a matter of fact, day in and day out we are in some way or the other selling something or the other, sometimes knowing and many times unknowingly. This means that we are constantly in the process of selling. It is just that we are not aware of it. People who are salesman experiences different kinds of scenarios with each passing day. The ones who are able to manage those situations well find themselves near to success. It is because they learn from those situations and apply it the next time they get them.

Selling heavy equipment is like any other product is full of challenges and perhaps it is a bit more difficult than the rest. There is huge demand for good machines but at the same time there is good deal of competition as well. It is not just the domestic players that you have to deal with but also the foreign players that has seen US as their potential customer. The end user has more options now and this makes your job a bit difficult. There are few things that you can do differently from the rest of the population that can make you successful in this form of the business.

Know your product well:-

Salesmen are normally sent to sell products without them knowing much about it. This can’t be expected to be done in the case of heavy equipment salesman. He/she is supposed to know his product well. When they speak to their client they need to speak sense or you just lose the deal. When you do not have answers for the questions posed to you, make a note of that and inform that you will let them know about it. Please do not speak something that you are not sure about. You never know how much the prospect knows about heavy equipment and if he/she finds that you gave him an incorrect input, you are done with him.

Sell machines that suit his/her requirement:-

The conversation between you and the prospect went successful and he/she is ready to buy a machine. Now there are 2 different types of machines that can be sold to him/her. However, one will be quite effective and the other is not. But you get more commission on the latter. Here comes your commitment towards the buyer into play. You should sell the one that suits his requirement and not the one that earns you more money.

Give correct suggestion even if it costs you a sale:-

A construction business owner at times sees himself/herself in a dilemma where he/she is required to choose a machine produced by two different companies. You as a salesman will suggest him as per his requirement even it means doing away with your brand. You may not be able to make any money at that point in time but have won the trust of the person. This will get you more business in the future.

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When you are a part of the construction industry always have a role model

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When life gets tougher you seek for an inspiration and in case you have a role model in life it becomes easy for you to come out of that difficult situation and face the challenge with open heart. When you are part of the construction industry, you will time and again come across situations that you will find to be quite challenging and there will be numerous occasions when you will feel like giving it up. In situations like these, it is important that you seek help of the person whom you believe to be your role model. A role model can be a person either living or dead and therefore you may not necessarily get to speak to him in time of distress. But you can certainly read up his works and get inspired to know what sort of challenges he has faced during his times which may be tougher than yours and perhaps then you will get some courage to deal with things.

Female works can be exceptional role models as they have to go through a lot than men do. They have a family to take care of and they can’t shrug off their responsibility by saying that they have too much of work in office. So women who have successfully managed to tackle both the fronts have turned out to be better role models and the world look at them with respect and honor.

If the role model is in your reach, it benefits you more than anything else can. Ideally, we have role models who are well established and it may not be easy to reach to them every time we need their help. However, if you idolize a person for his hard work and the person work right in your office then it becomes simple to approach him anytime when you feel like talking to him. For most people, their parents are their role models and if your father or mother is from this industry then you always have them for a short discussion. You can sit with them and talk about the issues you are experiencing and they will show you some way that might be the best for you. You will never find yourself short of good people around you. It is just you got to be equally good to everybody around you.

There are few people who adore men belonging to an industry different from the construction. You need not have your role model from the area of your business but can have from any profession and from any walk of life. Every person has a story that can inspire you and the guy from the construction industry frequently find the needs of such stories as they are often haunted by difficult times. It is these stories and the lives of such people that help them in rough times and show them the way to get over it.

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Referring to excerpts of experts can be really helpful

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It is unlikely for an individual to know the depth of everything as he can master himself in one sphere if not more and therefore for things that he do not know, he needs to depend on others. It is quite obvious that we can’t perfect everything in our life span and when it comes to the construction domain, it becomes all the more difficult for a person to know all about this industry. It may take him years of his involvement in this industry and still he may find something new to learn in the following day. This can only suggest how wide this industry is and how much absorbed you have to be to become an expert in this kind of business.

It is not that this industry lacks experts. You will certainly come across people who possess good knowledge about the construction domain but they may not know much about the heavy equipment sector. They may be able to answer few generic questions about machines (some may even answer more than generic) but if you try to get into details, they may not be sure of their answers or opinions. A strategist in a construction company may not be able to speak a lot about the engineering part of the business and the operator will not have any idea how to handle the financial transactions. In such a scenario if one gets stuck at a point and needs some help, they have to approach the expert of that field.

Ask a person whom you can trust:-

It is crucial to have a mentor in this industry who can guide you in different stages of your career. It is not necessary that the mentor has to be an expert of his domain but he got to be someone whom you can trust. A person who will not misguide you ever and is also known for speaking things that make sense. If you know such a person, you can put your worries on his shoulders (not literally though) and pursue his guidance.

An experienced person can be real handy:-

If you get jammed with some issue and do not know how to get out of it, it is advisable that you speak to someone who has been in the line of business for many years. They have witnessed a lot of scenarios in their life and have defeated many troublesome situations. It becomes prudent to approach such an experienced person and knowing what you can do to get out of the trouble. In case, you get caught in some legal issues, there you take the advice of an expert attorney.

Become a member of the heavy equipment community:-

You can join a heavy equipment community and can read the post of expert writers, members who have been writing for years on subjects of your interest. If you need any help in particular, you can post your query and wait for someone to answer on it. These sites really work for people who are new to the construction domain and are looking for some help or expert opinions.

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Blowing your own trumpet is essential in construction business

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In order to become a successful businessman, it is quite essential that people know about you and the business that you are into. Also it is important for others to know about the nature of your business. For instance, if you own a bar or a joint that provides nutritious food or anything that involves your dealings with the end user, it is important for you that others know you well and also that you have a good reputation in the market. So when people talk about you they talk mostly good. This is perhaps the most important ingredient that is required to sustain in the service industry. Construction business to a larger extent is connected to the end user and in order to grow the business in your area or in your city, it is quite instrumental that you blow your own trumpet so that people know about you and the kind of work that you are into. Your success in the business becomes your portfolio and so are the existing projects that you have under your belt.

When we talk about blowing your own trumpet we specifically mean that you market your business more aggressively than never before. Reach out to as many people as you can and talk to them about your success story. However, do not ever try to blow things out of proportion or you will get caught. You have to speak what is true. The only difference will be that you will be more vocal than before and mention about all the feathers on your cap to the person with whom you expect some business to come. If needed hire ace marketing guys who knows about the industry and let them do the talking business. You have to get the stuff ready for them so that they can do the talking and get business for you.

You can get guys who are simply exceptional when it comes to market things. They are basically freelancers who do not work on one particular company and can work for any company at a given point of time. All they need is some material and facts to speak on. So when you give them some solid facts and figures that your company has been able to achieve, it becomes simple for them to go and perform. Right from cold calling to fixing an appointment and then meeting the person and turning him into your client, they will get everything done for you. You probably have to go for final meetings as you are the face of the company and people will be ultimately dealing with you.

Social media is one more way to spread the word at a shorter time to a larger crowd. Many construction companies are using Facebook as a tool to promote their business. They also have accounts in other social media websites that are meant for professional use. Here they mention almost everything about their company, right from the inception to the values and the projects that they work on. Many have found them to be quite useful to promote their business and take it to the next level.

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Hard work and dedication is all needed for the growth of construction business

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We generally believe that construction business is a highly profitable one and people who are associated with it know the secret of making quick money. Well as a matter of fact, first and foremost there is nothing like easy money. It may be quick money but one can’t guarantee how long does the quick money last but there is definitely no easy money. People belonging to whatever industry have to work hard all day to earn money and they do not want to emphasize that as neither quick nor easy money. Same goes with the men in the construction domain. Right from the person who owns a construction company to the one who work in that company, all of them have to go through rigorous hardship day in and day out to achieve success and the money that comes attached with the success.

There are basically 2 most important attributes that is required to form or to transform a small construction company to a giant organization and these attributes are something that we have been doing all our lives without knowing the importance of it. The first one is hard work and the second is dedication. As you spend more time in the construction business, you keep on learning new things that were completely unknown to you or is probably unknown to many in this domain. However, you get to know those things only if you are dedicated towards your business. One who gets knowledge is the one who seeks it. Therefore, you have to keep your dedication intact irrespective of whatever challenges comes up in your life. Difficulties are part of our daily life and they come and go often. If they start bothering you, it will be tough for you to take things ahead in life.

Dedicated towards your work will also keep you focused towards what you want to achieve in life. It has been often witnessed that people after having started their construction business plan to wrap it down in few years time. This happens because they have entered the sector thinking that life here is a bed of roses where challenges are rare to come. They can make good, easy and quick money and will still rich forever. Things are not what these men contemplate it to be. It is indeed absolutely contrary to their imagination and they fall flat on their face when they see the industry is giving them several blows without anytime to recuperate.

Dedication and hard work goes hand in hand. In fact, it is dedication that gives rise to hard work. You will not work hard on things that you are not dedicated to do. You will find the work monotonous and after some time you may lose interest from it. Stories of ace construction companies should be read to know the pain they have gone through to reach the place they are in. That will motivate you to work harder and extend your limits of persistence.

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Veterans should focus on new entrants and guide them throughout

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In every industry the role of veterans in nurturing the business cannot be ruled out. They play a pivotal role in shaping up the future of the company and also the career of many individuals who learn from them. At the same time they also earn a special place in the company and if ever the company goes through a rough patch, it is the veterans in the company that secures their place in the company. They are probably the last one to be kicked out. The experienced ones however have to make this place for themselves by giving their time and paying attention on the new guys. It is the experienced lot who can train the new guns about the systems in place and the process of work along with the culture that is followed in the company. In a nutshell they have a big role to play irrespective of what industry they belong to.

Veterans have a stronger role to play when it comes to the construction sector. This sector being quite vast in nature, it takes years for a person to learn things and to master them. People commit lot of mistakes when they are new to work and with every mistake they take a step forward in learning something new. Veterans can make things a bit simple for them by providing them with proper guidance and showing them the correct way to get the assigned work done. Construction business is not only a vast one but also quite complex and the newcomers will for sure find it difficult to comprehend things in the beginning. They need someone who can walk them through the initial phases and be with them whenever they need their advice.

Try to become their mentor:-

The newbie who get into the construction sector look for people who can turn out to be their mentors. They may come across many people who will help them. The new guys will try to pick a mentor out of the many people whom they feel is able to guide them in the most appropriate manner. The work of a mentor is undoubtedly a difficult one as he will be bothered with all sorts of questions. It will be a real test of his patience and he needs to prove his credibility by being calm and answer their queries as and when it shows up. After spending anytime between 8-10 years in an industry one becomes a veteran but you need special qualities to become a mentor and not everybody can become one. It is only those who have sound knowledge about his work and can calmly impart it to their juniors and subordinates can ultimately possess the quality of becoming a mentor.

Be a problem solver:-

Day in and out the new guys will come across new things and that will indeed riddle them and compel them to ask questions. Now if they turn up to you, they come to you with believe that you have the potential to answer them. This is when you also need to do your best and try to solve the problem they are in. Try to be a problem solver. This will mean a lot to them.

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