Don't Chase Projects, Pursue Relationships
Unlocking Efficiency and Success in Construction Sales Through Account-Centric Strategies
The Project Sale
In construction, there’s a defined beginning and end to every revenue stream. Whether you’re a GC/CM or a trade contractor, you must win projects one-by-one to fill your backlog and support your financial needs. As a result, contractors understandably prioritize the projects in front of them right now and burn their sales energy in an inefficient and wasteful way.
The term sales energy refers to the resources a contractor puts into winning work. Contractors typically expend their sales energy in the estimating department bidding a lot of work and following up on the projects they really want to win. Emails and phone calls with questions like: “how do we look?” and “when will we hear about the award?” abound and often lead to crickets in response.
The law of averages kicks in and the typical contractor will win 1 in 10 or so of their pursuits and they feel vindicated in their approach. “It works!” They tell themselves...and the cycle of wasting 90% of their limited and valuable estimating resources continues.
The Account-Based Project Sale
The thing about construction is that there are almost always organizations purchasing or influencing the purchase of services. GC/CMs are awarded projects by owners who often have more projects coming down the line. Even when those owners don’t have future projects planned, the architects, engineers, and brokers they hired do. Trade contractors are pursuing work with GC/CMs who have more work coming, same with A&E companies, and they can even pursue owner-direct relationships who also have future work.
To break free from the inefficient project pursuit cycle described above, contractors must recognize that they’re not in a project-selling environment. They’re in an account-based project selling environment. That means the first sale and the ongoing sale must be focused on winning accounts, not projects.
Account Pursuit and Management
With this new recognition, contractors must pour some of their sales energy into business development and relationship development with the accounts they will pursue projects with. Networking environments are often the starting point for new accounts, but don’t overlook the everyday opportunities posed by bid invites from strangers. If your business can support the overhead for it, we recommend dedicated business development resources to boost this effort. That said, some of our greatest success stories revolve around helping estimators, project managers, and executives take part in business development to strengthen account relationships.
Get the team to attend industry events and meet new people. Meet current and potential clients for coffee and lunch to talk about life and work. Even seek genuine opportunities to build friendships with the people you’re working with and go have some fun together! Everyone on your team can contribute some sales energy on account pursuit and management.
Enjoy the Strategic Advantage
Channel your sales energy to business development and relationship development and reap the benefits of more candid discussions with the people who control your fate on project pursuits. You’ll get better information, earlier feedback, and spend much less time in follow up because people actually take your call. Now, layer on being demonstrably better than your competition, and you will win more than your fair share with your accounts and drive incredible estimating efficiency by boosting your capture rate.
The Spark Notes:
In construction, winning projects isn’t just about individual transactions; it’s about cultivating long-term relationships with key accounts.
Shift focus from solely pursuing projects to actively managing and nurturing relationships with potential clients and industry stakeholders.
Invest sales energy into business development and relationship-building activities such as networking events, client meetings, and team involvement to strengthen account relationships.
By prioritizing account-based project selling, contractors can benefit from more meaningful discussions, early feedback, and increased efficiency in project pursuits, ultimately leading to a higher capture rate and competitive advantage.
