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While there was unanimous agreement that "sales were indeed the key" many of our customers that rely on the commercial bid market voiced concern that bid invitations were down in their area. Point taken, however take this slow bid period as an opportunity to strengthen sales with these ideas ..
Take some time to stop by job sites. If you've never tried this before you'll be amazed at how well this technique works for getting your foot in the door. Job site managers don't fool around .. they'll ask some key questions and if you're a fit you'll generally get a shot at some work.
Take the time to look at job listings in outlying counties. Everyone covers the busy urban areas around them. Who exactly covers a small rural county a hundred miles from those urban areas, where they just happen to have a small mfg company going up with some paneled offices, running trim, and lab casework? You, that's who. You never know what you'll find .. maybe a health center or school or courthouse. Sometimes it's more important to look where others don't than to compete head on with some low ballers in your area.
Make a few person to person visits with your best customers.
Solidify those relationships you depend on and let them know you don't
take their business for granted. It's also a good time to explain that
you have some open time and see if they might have some small projects
you can take on. Don't discount the importance of building strong bonds
with your customers, even if they are your customers only when you are
the low bidder. This is very good way to become more than just a low
bid supplier to them.
Have you ever considered making wood parts? There are businesses everywhere and some of them need wood parts for the items they make. You never know when a casual cold call or phone call can turn into a great little ongoing account. Having done this in the past I would recommend putting together a one page brochure that you can leave on someone's desk and make narrow down prospects via phone or email first.
Be open to opportunities. What does that mean? Well here's just one of my own personal experiences that illustrates what I'm talking about. One day someone calls in and needs some doors repaired at a new store front project that was opening in only a few days. They were desperate to get some new parts and and repairs. That didn't even sound like something we would ever do but I was referred by someone in the business community and felt obliged to follow up. (uh, did I mention we were a little slow then too?) It turned out that the little storefront was Barnes & Noble with thick stile and rail mahogany entries. A true woodworker has to respect a company that chooses to use 2 and 1/4" thick stile and rail doors on their stores. Well we fixed the problem, in time of course, and after that we eventually did entries for hundreds of Barnes & Nobles all across the country. All from a phone call for a repair. Who would have guessed, but I have plenty of stories like that. Opportunity is where you find it and as someone very smart once said "80% of success is showing up" so do your part and show up. BTW, if you know who it was reply here and the first 5 people will get a worthwhile freebie.
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We received a few interesting responses to last week's newsletter ..
