By Jeff Beals
A construction executive once explained how the job-bidding process had changed in his industry over the past 10 years. Back in the “olden days,” a company would announce plans to build a building before hiring a general contractor. The construction company would then make contact with the owner and try to win the business.
That is no longer the case.
Nowadays, as soon we hear the first wisp of a rumor about a new building project, chances are the entire construction team is already in place. The successful construction company is the one that builds relationships and discusses ideas with real estate developers long before anyone puts pencil to paper. To win contracts, construction companies need to be marketing themselves and aggressively going after business before developers are even imagining their projects.
In business, relationships are more important today than ever. Successful professionals build relationships constantly, but you must be patient, because sometimes it takes a long time before a given relationship puts dollars in your pocket.
Long-standing relationships are particularly hard to break, which is why they are so valuable.
For seven years, I taught a real estate sales-and-leasing course at a local university. I would tell the students to build new relationships deliberately and actively, but that they can’t expect every relationship to bear fruit immediately.
One of my former students, a very talented one, earned her real estate license and affiliated with a local brokerage company. She was active in the community and had a large network of friends. She was dismayed on two separate occasions when a relative and a friend chose NOT to use her as their real estate agent.
You see, these people had bought and sold houses before and chose to keep their former real estate agents. Why? Those agents had performed well and had built business relationships that were too strong for the unproven newbie to break. My former student was persistent. She marketed herself to everyone she knew and to hundreds of people she had never met. A year later, she had built business relationships and was closing deals.
Sometimes you can become so busy working, that you forget to build new relationships and foster underdeveloped relationships that could blossom with a little tender loving care.
We are operating in a highly competitive, fast-paced, global economy that doesn’t take time to stop and smell the roses. In such an environment, we must foster relationships constantly in order to avoid being trampled underfoot.
Jeff Beals is a professional speaker and award-winning author, who helps professionals enjoy greater success through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. He delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. To discuss booking a presentation, go to JeffBeals.com or email at info@jeffbeals.com or call us at (402) 637-9300.
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