THEY WERE KEEN TO WIN NEW WORK
Are you keen to win new work? I was recently invited to a meeting with a professional consultancy. They were keen to win new work and so grow their client base. One of the directors told me that they had just run a campaign with a marketing agency. The results were worse than poor. The agency had set no appointments, brought in no tenders and had not delivered a single enquiry. I am acutely aware of the difficult marketing conditions prevailing within this economic climate. So, I asked a couple of questions.
WISE QUESTIONS ELICIT CLEAR ANSWERS
What brief did you give to the agency employed to market your practice? This question seemed to cause some discomfort to the director. OK, so your brief was not very clear. I asked if the marketing agency had specific experience in the construction sector. Again, it became clear they did not.
After reading this you will probably agree that it was not worth investing in such a campaign. Each Construction company, whether a Consultancy or Contractor is different and requires a slightly different approach. The lessons here are important to learn and well. You might be surprised to know that many companies within the Construction sector have no clear marketing brief and depend on the goodwill of their current contacts to bring in new work opportunities. I have spoken with two Consultancies who have a single supplier of work. Again, this is not a wise road to travel. The Construction Industry is volatile with budget cuts and traditional tendering losing its power. How many jobs have you been asked to value engineer after tender stage lately?
SETTING YOUR COURSE OF ACTION
You’ll agree that it is most important to set a clear course of action when construction marketing. You may need to make minor adjustments from time to time. Therefore, ensure that your marketer is familiar with the industry. Just to prove my point. The Consultancy mentioned at the start of this post appointed me to work with them. We identified exactly which organisations they wanted to work with. Four appointments were set with key decision makers and the director went and did what he does best. He pitched for work with people he actually wanted to work with. The result of a clear brief was very helpful and the return was good.
See you soon…
