Managing sustainable growth

With the construction industry predicted to remain strong for the foreseeable future, there should be plenty of opportunities for you to grow your business – if you go about it in the right way! Here are some tips to enable internal and external growth

As much as it might seem to be the case in good times, businesses don’t simply grow by themselves. It’s the people in charge who determine their shape, size and stability.

That might not always be for the good: a business can look successful and then suddenly be placed into receivership due to the actions of its owner/s. Common reasons include accepting a big building contract without fully understanding how payment terms will affect cash flow, running over budget by failing to cross-check labour costs, or diversifying into a new market without really mastering it.

On the other hand, a small business that doesn’t necessarily look capable of much can achieve rapid growth. On rare occasions, this just happens, but normally it’s because there is a business owner behind it focused on development. True leaders are committed to growing their own skill sets!

Internal growth – you and your employees

Look for an area in which your business needs to improve and decide to grow as a leader in that area. If your business needs to recruit better staff, then ask yourself the question: “what do I need to do to become a better recruiter?”

Maybe you could check out the advertising and interviewing processes that more successful companies use and try them out in your company.

Whatever you do, focus on growing yourself first. A growing company needs a growing leader.

Every business owner knows that a growing business needs to recruit staff. The most successful also understand that it’s important to recruit the right staff – people who are a good fit for the company. Not only that – even the right people can become the wrong people if they stop growing.

Just as a tree is never static – it’s either growing or dying – productive staff members need to keep developing.

Helping your staff develop their skills and knowledge need not be an expensive exercise.

Simply running an occasional training hour, in which new products, procedures and tools are discussed or tried, is a great start. You could try asking employees to brainstorm ideas for improving productivity, and then implement and test their ideas.

You could also offer them new responsibilities that require learning – a new operations manual to study, or a course that better prepares them for promotion within your company.

If you can incorporate staff development into your company, so that promotions are filled from within, you can grow your company from the bottom. That approach carries a lot less risk than adding people at the top, where failure has more impact.

External growth – your client base

I wanted to share with you an interesting thought for growing your client base. It starts with a short anecdote.

A friend of mine is a keen ‘motor-homer’. He recently posted on a motorhome Facebook page photos of the great new look he achieved after removing, sandblasting and repainting the wheels on his motorhome. In passing, he also mentioned that he had filled the tyres with nitrogen.

He expected to get some comments on his post, and he did, but not one was about the new look – they were all about the nitrogen gas in the tyres!

My friend was surprised but, as a marketer, attentive. Has he stumbled upon a specific interest that would capture the attention of fellow motor-homers, even in passing? Could he use this interest to gain more traction in future Facebook posts?

The moral of this story is that it’s what people are interested in that captures their attention – the trick is understanding what that might be.

To grow your company securely, you need to gain the attention of not just new customers, but your existing ones. What interests do they have? What words or images will cause them to give your company’s signage and advertising a second look? What will cause them to notice you – so you will not be just another builder, but one they’ll recommend to their friends?

It’s even better when your client’s interests match your own. A builder I work with has a client who is enthusiastic about car rallying. Since he also has an interest in motorsport, he took a two-week holiday to join his client at a particular car-rallying event.

His goal was to meet and network with his client’s friends. Not surprisingly, many became his friends and several expressed an interest in building in the next year or so. New leads gained while enjoying a common interest!

So, think about what things interest your best clients and then consider how you can connect at that level. Perhaps organise a fishing trip for a client and two or three of their friends – you could hook some new leads!