This week, Musings welcomes Mark Buckshon of the Construction Marketing Ideas blog to Guest Post Friday.  Mark publishes several regional construction industry newspapers and websites. He can be reached at 888-432-3555 ext 224 or by email at buckshon@cnrgp.com.

If you can imagine a table or structure which needs foundation “legs,” you will appreciate how to apply these four supporting construction marketing concepts.

Properly measured and in alignment, all four will ensure your success, but you can get away with three (and in fact, your structure will be quite stable). Less than three, though, and you won’t stay above ground very long.

I tried to develop these concepts into an acronym, but the closest I could come up with is RIMC. Think of “hockey rink” but turn the N into an M for “Money” and you’ll have it.

It doesn’t matter which order these elements are available, but you need at least three to succeed.

R — Relationships

Your ability to develop and maintain relationships with employees, clients, and influencers is certainly a cornerstone of effective marketing. If you don’t have much relationship-creating power, you can blast your way with lots of Intensity, Money and Consistency (but you had better be sure to have lots of money!)

I — Intensity (or Focus)

If your relationships (and business) are all over the place, scattered here and there, without much energy applied to any element, just whispers in the wind, you won’t leave much of an impact, and you won’t achieve much in terms of marketing results. But if you have plenty of relationships, money and consistency, you”ll probably still succeed, simply because the cash will ‘buy’ you some intensity and if people like you, they will do business with you.

M – Money

Of course, money can “buy” the other categories, or help you work around them. No relationships, intensity, or consistency: You can bribe someone, or spend a fortune on advertising, or hire someone for great pay who is good at relationship-building. You can overcome deficiencies with lots of money (or waste it!).

C – Consistency

Your clients need to see you for who you are; you need to convey some consistency, even if that consistency is unpredictability. In other words, if your image one day is of a staid and secure organization appealing to quiet, mature people, you will not have much success if you jar them suddenly with an appeal to youthful exuberance. But you can overcome inconsistency with cash, relationships and intensity. (Think “rebranding” initiatives.)

What is the best way to achieve construction marketing success? Without spending much (if any money) build your relationships, intensity and consistency. Then, when you have the money, add it to the pot. You’ll dominate your market.

As always, please join the conversation with a comment below and contact Marc for more.  If you enjoy what you’re reading, please subscribe to keep up with the latest Construction Law Musings and check out the other Guest Post Fridays here at Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

Bobby can be reached at bobbydarnell@cmconl.com.

Have you ever been a witness to a similar situation from the ‘tired cliché department’?

“Look how gaudy that person’s outfit is…there ought to be a law!”

“Wow, it is hot today…there ought to be a law!”

“There is nothing more obnoxious that a (fill in blank with your least favorite team) fan…there ought to be a law!”

I am compelled to begin this guest posting by saying how much I truly value Chris Hill’s blog and how flattered I am to be able to share a few musings of my own with his readers.

First off, I am not an attorney but, in a nutshell, someone who has been in the construction industry from a sales, marketing and business development perspective my entire career.   While I am not an attorney, I am one of those guys who friends and family members often say, “You should have been a lawyer.”  This comes from my passion for debate, or at least that is what I tell myself.

Ever since taking my first elective philosophy course, I continue to be a student and enjoy formulating arguments, making presentations and trying to get the ‘jury’ to give me the desired verdict…a sale.  I love sales; marketing, business development and seeing companies grow.

Throughout my career, I have found, general speaking, that the A/E/C industry is quite artisan by nature, at least from the hundreds of companies we have worked with.   What I mean by that is, for the most part, our experience is that architects and engineers love to design; contractors love to build; subcontractors love to install…that however does not necessary equate to a love for the business side of running a business, especially sales and marketing.

In short, I have yet to meet an architect, engineer, contractor or subcontractor who started their own business because they wanted to be in sales.

Today, you will be my jury as I make my case for the need for any business in the A/E/C marketplace to take some time to take a pause from working in the business and spend some time working on the business.

I could present as evidence many tired but true pearls of wisdom such as:

• If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
• Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.
• It wasn’t raining when Noah started building the ark.

However, I will offer what I believe to be a more substantive example:

In a typical million dollar commercial building, the owner will put together a unique, one-time, joint venture involving several hundred companies.

These companies will work from a set of plans and specifications to create a desire result.  The data contained in these documents will indicate how the steel should be erected, how the cement should be poured, the pathway of the electrical wires, the distance of the foundation from the legal property line all the way down to the direction of the air flow through the diffuser…and more.

Not only is the completion of the building a one-time joint venture but the creation of the construction documents are as well as architects work with consulting engineers, building product manufacturers, zoning and code officials and more.  All in all, a lot of companies not only come together to create a plan, they also come together to execute the plan.

Ergo, I cannot think of an industry that better exemplifies the use of plans and planning than entities in the A/E/C marketplace.  Likewise, I cannot think of an industry that struggles more with internal planning, especially when it comes to building new business than entities in the A/E/C marketplace.

Example:  I once was called upon by an architectural firm that needed some help with their sales, marketing and business development.  In reviewing where they were and what their ‘points of pain’ were, part of my recommendation was they needed to create a solid marketing plan.  The president of the company did fully understand that idea and asked, “Why do I need to have a marketing plan?”   I then asked him why do general contractors and the subcontractors need a set of construction documents.

He thought for a second, reached across the table and signed my contract.

Now, what does all this have to do with ‘there ought to be a law?’  For an industry so focused on plans, dare I say there ‘ought to be a law’ for companies facing challenges in this economy to be focused on business development planning?  Sorry, you won’t get that from me.  It is your company and you should be able to run it as you please.  My job here is to encourage you to consider otherwise.

Our industry is built; pardon the pun, on the ‘subcontractor’ and ‘consulting’ relationship.  Few can afford an in-house attorney, so they make sure they have one on speed-dial.  If there are areas in your business that could use some help getting you over a revenue slump, increasing quality pricing opportunities, developing processes, get some input from others who can help you with the areas that are not necessarily your strong suit.  There are plenty of resources available that do not require adding staff.

My closing argument is this…just as hope is not a strategy…wishing revenues would increase consumes as much energy as planning.  I like what Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant said, “Have a plan. Follow the plan and you’ll be surprised how successful you can be.  Most people don’t have a plan.  That is why it is easy to beat most folks.”

…and with that ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

Bobby and I welcome your comments below.  Also, please subscribe to keep up with this and other Guest Post Friday Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Musings welcomes Johanna Hoffmann.  Johanna is a marketing and management consultant to construction professionals, architects and interior designers. Her company, Oomph Group Inc. delivers workshops and webinars in the areas of marketing and sales, human resources, general business and financial management. Oomph programs are accredited for continuing education by leading professional and regulatory organizations. Her newsletter and blog are jam-packed with great business tips and resources and you can follow Johanna on Twitter.

2010 is just getting going and it looks as if the long-awaited recovery is finally beginning to take hold. This is good news for everyone, but especially so for the construction industry, which has been so affected by the collapse of the housing and mortgage markets.

Recessions are incredibly and difficult to navigate, but for companies on solid footing, business downturns provide the extra time needed to take stock and refine or restructure the company’s direction, services and management systems. “The first step is to define your value proposition,” says Gabriel Draven, co-founder of Village Technologies Inc, a Toronto-based leader in the design and installation of energy conservation and recovery systems. “Ask yourself: what problem are we solving for our clients or, what do our clients value most about our service? This is critical because, as Mr. Draven says, “If you can’t answer this question and you are not able to describe your value effectively to potential clients, then you are left having to compete on price alone.”

Indeed, if you describe what you offer as ‘drywall installation’ or ‘roof replacement’ you are selling a generic service people will buy at the lowest possible price. But, if you present your services as a powerful solution to clients’ problems, you will be more able to justify your fees because clients will perceive what you provide as a valuable benefit.

“The question of value changes over time,” explains Mr. Draven, “so you need to be aware of the larger trends in the market place and position your business and services accordingly. Right now people are starting to value energy efficiency. Soon, an aging population will need homes that will remain affordable and comfortable, so demand for energy efficiency will continue to grow as will the need for barrier free designs and retrofits”.

To tap and incorporate market trends into your value proposition you need to research the areas you are interested in and become an expert in all related technology and construction systems. As well, knowledge of government financing programs and other pertinent data will enable you to provide extra information that can help reposition you from a ‘hammer and nail guy’ to a valued counselor or consultant.

In addition to providing a way of differentiating yourself from the competition, being ‘on trend’ enables you to ‘package’ services that tap market demand and drive sales in times when people aren’t embarking on large-scale building projects. Current examples include energy audits and long-term home maintenance and renovation plans, which are precursors to actual building projects.

Another value-driven option is the packaging of services aimed at specific market segments. Women and elderly home owners often need help with seasonal home maintenance tune-ups, like the installation and removal of storm windows and the cleaning of eaves troughs. While not significant from a building point of view, these types of services are great for establishing long-term relationships and for generating ongoing bread-and-butter business to help weather economic downturns.

Teaming up with a specialist and combining forces to sell a service to existing and past clients is yet another option. “The growing need for energy management, conservation and recovery systems and the wide range of government funding and rebate programs provide an excellent opportunity for driving sales right now,” states Mr. Draven. “We are teaming up with contractors who don’t have our expertise in this area but who do have an extensive Rolodex. We encourage them to review their current and past client list, to identify prospects for energy system upgrades and we help them pitch and procure this type or work.”

Tapping clients to ‘up sell’ is only effective if you have diligently provided good service, otherwise they may not want to see you again. Using the slowdown to review and revamp your client and project management procedures is another valuable strategy for driving future sales. In an industry that has often been plagued with poor service, haphazard project management and shoddy business practices, a firm that can guarantee satisfaction, outstanding client service and impeccable project management will always find clients willing to pay for top quality service and who are happy to tell their friends about it.

Resources:

●       Visit DSIRE – Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for information on Virginia programs including:

●       Arlington County Green Building Incentive Program

●       Energy Efficiency Rebate Program – Residential

●       Energy Efficiency Rebate Program – Commercial

●       Renewable Energy Rebate Program – Residential

●       Renewable Energy Rebate Program – Commercia

●       TVA Partner Utilities  – Energy Right Water Heater Rebate Program

Virginia Natural Gas – Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program

As always, we welcome your comments below.  Also, please subscribe to keep up with this and other Guest Post Fridays here at Construction Law Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

For this week’s Guest Post Friday readers are in for a treat.  Lance Godard, founder of The Godard Group, has provided marketing and business development solutions to global law firms for nearly 20 years. He has particular expertise developing strategies that allow lawyers to identify client opportunities, communicate their messages, and grow their practices. Lance has been called a “provocative and engaging leader in the legal profession and social media” and was named one of the “20 Twitterers Lawyers should follow on Twitter.” He is the founder of 22 Tweets, live Twitter interviews with practicing lawyers, which provides a forum for lawyers to tell their story using social media.

The market appears to be picking up. Clients are getting back to work. New opportunities can’t be far behind. What are you doing to find them? To make sure they show up on your radar? To put yourself in a position to see those opportunities that do present themselves, and to land the work when you pitch for it? Maybe it’s time for a marketing tune-up.

Just like you regularly perform maintenance on your car, you need to perform regular maintenance on your marketing efforts, objectives and plans. You need to modify them to reflect the constant evolution of your practice, your client base, your experience and your network. And as you do that, you should keep in mind some basic notions:

• Planning is everything. Know where you want to go? How to get there? What it looks like when you’ve arrived? You need a plan. Not a complicated one that accounts for every contingency and takes two or three or six weeks of reflection and drafting and editing. It does have to set goals, realistic, achievable, measurable goals. It does have to understand the clients you want, the work they need, and your ability to perform that work. Plan your route so you don’t end up someplace you don’t want to be.
• You’re not out to change the world. Yes, you need a plan of action, but you don’t need to change the world, to solve every problem, to cure cancer on your first try. You just need a road map to start. You can build the atlas as you go along. And you can always change your mind when an idea doesn’t work or a potential client doesn’t pan out or a deal falls through. Just don’t get hung up on making it perfect, because that will get in the way of making it in the first place.
• Focus on opportunities. It’s easy to spend time picking apart ideas, looking at what won’t work, what you can’t do, what you’ll never be able to achieve. But that won’t get you anywhere. Spend your time looking at what you CAN do, not what you can’t. Isolate the opportunities—true opportunities, ones measured in terms of probability not possibility—and the steps needed to realize them. You’ll solve the real problems when you get to them.
• Be realistic. It’s only an opportunity if you could realistically get the work and do the job better than your competition. If you can convince your client that it makes sense—for them, not just for you—to give you a new assignment. If your experience allows you to tell a credible story, a story that convinces someone who doesn’t know you that they should trust you with the future of their company. If you can’t do that, then you’re probably not going to get the work, and you shouldn’t waste your time chasing it.
• Don’t neglect your existing clients. Relationships are relationships, and those with clients require the same amount of work as those with potential clients. Providing good legal advice, answering questions, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s isn’t enough. Anticipating client needs, addressing their concerns, understanding their objectives, communicating early and often are essential to maintaining the types of relationships that will not only keep clients coming back, but lead to increased referrals.
• Don’t forget your homework. Think you know what your clients need? The services they’re looking for? The business problems they’re struggling to solve? Do your research. Read what your clients are saying. What the press is saying about them. What their competitors are doing, what’s going on in their industry, where the growth is in their markets. If you can, talk to your clients about their business, their industry, their competition, their challenges, and most of all how they define success and how well they are achieving it.
• Execution is everything. You’ve set your objectives. You’ve identified realistic opportunities. You know where you want to go and what you need to do. But a plan is only the beginning. To generate results, you need to execute with discipline, follow-through and flexibility. Sound easy? It really isn’t. If it were, everybody would be doing it already. The part that drives success is execution, and it takes time, commitment and hard work.

As the economy improves and opportunities increase, there’s no time like the present to review your marketing efforts, rethink your marketing objectives and tune-up your marketing plans. You’ll be glad you did.

Lance and I welcome your comments below.  Also, please subscribe to keep up with this and other Guest Post Friday Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

Happy 4th of July from Construction Law Musings.  As I sit here in my office after my first two days and weekend as a solo practitioner at The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC, the idea of independence has a whole new meaning (hat tip to Carolyn Elefant of the My Shingle blog for pointing out my interesting, yet totally unplanned, timing for a move).

The independence of solo practice is both exhilarating and scary.  I feel like I am on a roller coaster at the top of that first, very tall, hill and looking down at the wild and great ride ahead of me.  I am in charge of my own destiny and feel like I am forging ahead into a new and exciting land of opportunity.  I don’t know if this is how the pioneers felt (I find it hard to relate to them as I type on a computer and see my blackberry blinking beside me), but the idea that I am both in control of and totally responsible for the future of my law practice is a wonderful feeling.

I will certainly be working as hard or harder than I was before, but I am working for myself and my family with total focus.  If I need something, I go get it (within reason of course).  No more “bucking it up the chain of command” because I am the first, last and middle link of that chain.

Thank you again to my absolutely wonderful wife and children for their awesome support throughout this change.  Without their support my transition never would have happened.

As I reflect on my move to solo practice, I can’t help but be thankful that I live in the United States where such a move is possible thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of everyone who works to keep this country free.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

As always, I welcome your comments below.  Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

e-mail:  chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Why do this now?  My time at the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and two private firms here in Richmond, Virginia gives me the skills, insight and experience necessary to take on the challenges and rewards of solo practice.  My skill set and dedication to my clients remains the same and I will continue to represent the people and businesses that I have enjoyed representing, namely contractors, subcontractors and other construction and design professionals.

Also, by moving out on my own, I can provide a level of responsiveness and flexibility to my construction clients that is not available at a larger firm.  By taking this step, I will be able to respond more rapidly to my clients’ issues and participate in a more direct way to manage their risk and help their construction business grow.  By being able to use more flexible billing and other business practices, I can better tailor my representation of my construction clients to meet their business needs.

Finally, and most importantly, I need to thank several people that have been instrumental in my decision.  First and foremost, my great family.  Without their support, I could not have made this great move to start my own firm.  Also, all of those attorneys, bloggers, contractors and other friends that have provided guidance and encouragement over the years.  The names of these folks are way to numerous to list here, but I hope that you all know who you are.

So please check out the new firm and contact me with any questions, words of wisdom or thoughts that you may have.  I look forward to continuing the conversation from my new vantage point as a solo construction lawyer at The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC.

As always, I welcome your comments below.  Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

This was last year, I’m sure I’ll have a similar post this year as well.

As Musings enters the end of its first year in existence, I am humbled by the great reaction this little corner of the blawgosphere has garnered.  To all the guest posters, I truly appreciate your time and effort in sharing your expertise, wisdom and insight into different aspects of the contracting and construction landscape.  Musings would not have the breadth and depth it does without you.

To all my readers, I thank you for your continued interest and the comments that you take the time to make.  Please consider voting for Musings for the Blawg 100 to keep the momentum going.  The deadline, should you choose to vote for Musings, is October 2, 2009.

I hope you will consider a vote and keep the comments coming.

As always, please comment below and subscribe to keep up with the latest Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

Musings would like to thank @22twts for the great “Twitterview.” I enjoyed the format and the great use of Twitter. Please follow him and check out the archives at 22 Tweets.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

The audience at this particular conference was a mix of VOSH personnel and safety officers for various construction companies.  My talk is very much directed at contractors and how to better work with the paperwork and the VOSH inspectors.  While having actual VOSH employees in the audience, instead of just contractors, I had to make sure that my approach was more balanced.  I even got a comment from a regional director at VOSH about this more balanced approach.

Even more than the actual talking, I gained some insight (as I do at each of these) from the questions and comments of the attendees.  Many of the attendees have been in the safety game for years and have insightful questions and comments.  They also tend to share their real life experiences.  These experiences help me see the best way to give what I hope is practical advice to my clients.  In short, sometimes I learn as much as I teach.

Another great aspect of these conferences is the friendships made and rekindled (including my pals from Circle Safety).  Many of these folks come every year and many I only see at this conference.  Like the AGC conference, I always meet someone new and always spend some time with some people that I already know and then get to know them better.  As always, getting to know folks in a context aside from attorney-client only helps me be a better lawyer.

I recommend that you attend some of these trade conferences when you can.  You’ll learn something.  I know I did.

As always, I welcome your comments below.  Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.

I want to say how grateful I am to all who read this new blog. I truly appreciate the time folks have taken to read my rants, comment on my posts, tweet their thoughts and generally let me know how they feel. I hope to continue to keep your confidence and look forward to hearing what you would like more info on as this community and blog grows.

Have a wonderful holiday and I hope we can continue the conversation in 2009.

Chris

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.