To enhance your odds of profitable worthwhile development contracts, you should be able to current your organization like a professional. A well-prepared and dynamic challenge interview and presentation could make a giant distinction and encourage purchasers to award your required contracts. Even once you compete on worth alone, you’ll not simply win each job with out presenting your organization and challenge plan to the shopper and decision-makers. Shoppers need to do enterprise with contractors they like and belief, and who’ve the experience, expertise, and crew they really feel assured will construct their challenge on time, on funds, and with none hassles, disputes, or issues.
Increasingly, development purchasers choose the profitable crew at challenge interviews based mostly on a score scale the place worth is barely one of many a number of elements. They rank challenge groups based mostly on 5 to 10 completely different standards, together with total worth, crew members, creativity, high quality, development strategies, expertise, security, previous efficiency, whole worth, and naturally, worth. In some instances, worth would possibly solely be weighted at 25 % whereas efficiency and repair make up the distinction.
Shoppers care about what you’ll do for them
As you get able to current your organization, bear in mind purchasers don’t care a lot about what you’ve got finished or what you’ve got constructed up to now. Your expertise probably obtained you the possibility to bid on the challenge alternative, however purchasers now primarily care about what you’ll do on this particular job. Deal with telling them how you’ll assist resolve their issues and meet their challenge objectives.
Use the challenge crew method
An important issue for many purchasers is the precise challenge crew. Each beneficial crew member should be able to take part, contribute, and look skilled within the interview. Embody the challenge supervisor, superintendent, and foreman. When the proprietor does all of the speaking, the shopper doesn’t get to know the crew.
Use visible examples
Fifty-seven % of what your purchasers bear in mind about your shows relies on what they see. Thirty-five % relies on the way in which you say it, and solely eight % relies on what you say. Be sure you present them quite a bit, and so they like what they see. Get up, stroll round, level to charts, hand the shopper photographs, and transfer once more. In case you can, arrange the interview room upfront and publish photographs, plans, and charts on the wall.
Listed below are steps to win on the challenge interview and presenting a strong presentation:
- Analysis the shopper. Be taught the whole lot you possibly can about your shopper’s contractor choice standards earlier than the interview. Uncover what’s necessary to them, their imaginative and prescient and objectives, the historical past of previous initiatives, and the way they award contracts.
- Collect the utmost info you possibly can about this challenge, together with the perform, use, and necessities; enlargement plans; metropolis approval course of and necessities; zoning, architect, engineers, inspectors, and utility corporations’ necessities; hearth division guidelines; and safety. Go to the challenge web site with the entire crew earlier than the interview. Search for inventive concepts, value-added alternatives, design enhancements, and the challenge’s short-term and long-term wants.
- Arrange the presentation venue to win by figuring out the next: Variety of attendees, determination makers, names, and titles; know-how, lighting, and energy that’s out there; what presentation technique you’ll use, i.e. projector, display screen, easels, or flip charts; how the room set-up will circulate, together with the variety of chairs, whether or not to make use of a convention desk or head desk, in case you want a podium, and the way a lot wall area there’s for shows. Moreover, publish the location and flooring plans, proposed challenge schedule, and presentation bullet factors on easels or partitions. Lastly, schedule your tech particular person to attend the presentation to watch and function the pc and projection, and rehearse the presentation together with your crew earlier than each interview or presentation.
- Use a ready written agenda, as groups that “wing it” look unprepared. Utilizing a printed, ready agenda for the assembly exhibits your crew is competent, organized, and able to proceed.
- Be able to defend your organization—assume your opponents are going to share any destructive info they’ve about you. Be sure you have a constructive story for questions that come up and by no means badmouth your competitors. When uncomfortable questions come up, you should be ready to handle these, together with security issues, late schedules, fee points, liens or lawsuits, and sad purchasers—something that may impression an organization’s status.
To have probably the most environment friendly and profitable presentation, observe this schedule:
- Introductions
2. Shopper presentation: At all times ask and let the shopper first current their challenge necessities, objectives, and challenges. Take heed to them 80 % of the time after which ask questions, together with what their contractor choice standards and a very powerful facet of the challenge is. Discover out who’ve they used up to now and why. What roles do they need their contractor, architect, engineers, and crew members to play?
3. Group presentation: Use the “challenge crew method” to current your organization.
4. Introduce your challenge crew: This will embrace the contractor president, estimator, challenge supervisor, discipline superintendent or foreman, challenge administrator, and so forth.
5. Have every crew member arise and current their identify, position, and expertise.
6. Use visuals together with schedules, web site and flooring plans, photographs, a Google map of the location, video drone aerials, circulate charts, checklists, PowerPoint slide exhibits, movies, and so forth.
7. Mission development presentation: Describe how crew members will work individually and collectively and have every crew member current their objectives and targets. Emphasize completely different factors based mostly on what you heard from the shopper’s presentation. Every crew member presents their position, accountability, and the way they are going to work on this challenge, from planning, estimating, challenge administration, discipline supervision and scheduling, security program administration, high quality management, job price administration, and so forth.
8. Funds and price: Current challenge funds, pricing, scope, inclusions, exclusions, and value-engineering concepts or alternate recommendations.
9. Current your organization: That is the least necessary a part of your interview, so maintain it brief. Cowl your organization historical past, values, imaginative and prescient, related initiatives, and purchasers. Clarify why this challenge and this shopper are crucial to your organization. Use a PowerPoint slide present to point out why your organization is the proper selection, how you’ll construct the challenge, how you’ll meet and talk with the shopper, and what further worth you present and do, and so forth.
10. Contract phrases: Clarify your proposed phrases.
11. Supply a assure to the shopper.
12) Summarize your challenge objectives: How necessary this job is to your organization, and why you need to work with this shopper. Remember to incorporate your shopper’s objectives and targets into this abstract of what you’ll do for them and the way.
13) Ask for the order: By no means depart a presentation with out asking for the contract. If you don’t ask, the reply is not any. Every crew member ought to ask for the order and describe the significance of this challenge to them. Earlier than ending, ask the shopper what it’ll take to win the contract.
14) Arrange a follow-up date: Supply an on-site tour of comparable initiatives that will assist sway the purchasers’ opinions. Deal with the way you helped different purchasers and how one can resolve issues and make their challenge successful.
15) Thank them for the chance and depart one thing behind to assist them bear in mind your organization.
16) Comply with up aggressively such as you need the contract.
All through the challenge interview and presentation, present them what you’ll do for them. Be visible, overcome your shopper’s challenges, rating a number of factors, and win huge!
George Hedley, CPBC is a licensed skilled development enterprise BIZCOACH, advisor, and well-liked speaker. He helps contractors construct higher companies; develop, revenue, and develop leaders; enhance estimating and discipline manufacturing; and get their corporations to work. He’s the best-selling creator of Get Your Building Enterprise To At all times Make A Revenue, out there on Amazon.com. To schedule a free introductory teaching session, get his month-to-month Hardhat Hedlines BIZ-TIPS e-newsletter, obtain his templates and instruments, or watch his webinars or on-line video programs at Hardhat BIZSCHOOL on-line college for contractors, go to HardhatBizcoach.com or e-mail GH@HardhatBizcoach.com.
