How are sales done in the construction industry? Well, it’d be great if they went something like this: Someone needs something built. They hire a construction company to do it. The work gets done, customer is happy, and the construction company gets paid. Simple, right?
Of course! At least, in just about every contractor’s dreams!
Construction sales can be, in fact, pretty complex. At smaller-sized firms, they can be complicated by the need to balance day-to-day operations, jobs in-progress, and new business development. At larger firms, responsibilities are siloed across departments and individuals, with the workload being distributed by function, urgency, and impact. This can mean some employees handle simple, repetitive, yet essential tasks, while employees with deeper knowledge handle higher stake work. However, high levels of segmentation can also drive the need for hyper-focused skill sets.
No matter the size of the operation, selling in the construction business requires a blend of activity. A combination of inside sales, face-to-face appointments, bidding via private and government sector platforms, estimating, and technical knowledge is required. Well-established contracting firms often enjoy the privilege of bringing in new contracts exclusively from referrals. This privilege isn’t industry exclusive, but in construction, personal connections built over years collaboration, plus community, are valued to a higher degree compared to many other fields. Growing firms have to deploy more aggressive marketing tactics to bring in clientele.
The point here is, it’s hard to become an overnight sensation in the construction field. Anyone seeking status in this lucrative market must understand the dynamics of getting established and best practices for business development.
Understanding Construction Market Sales
Learning through trial and error is inevitable, but you’ll save time and energy by knowing about your niche before attempting to sell.
The kind of business you run will define who your target key stakeholders/buyers are. General contractors and subcontractors, for example, will see some overlap in ideal customer profiles, while also seeing some stark differences. (See the diagram below for detailed information)
Decision makers or buyers of construction services will vary, but often fall within the following categories:
Intra-industry buyer titles:
- Purchasing/Procurement
- Project Manager
- Construction Manager
- Site Manager/Site Supervisor
- Estimator
- Quantity Surveyor
- Operations Manager
- Supply Chain Manager
- Facilities Manager
- Contract Manager
Individuals or groups holding these titles are often responsible for evaluating, selecting, and managing suppliers. They negotiate contracts and oversee the acquisition of material, equipment, and construction services.
Inter-industry buyer titles:
- Facilities Manager
- Property Manager
- Real Estate Developer
- Asset Manager
- Building Manager
- Operations Manager
- Maintenance Manager
- Corporate Real Estate Manager
- Investment Manager
- Project Manager (non-construction)
Non-construction-industry companies encompassing these roles typically offer property development, maintenance, and management services to ensure that facilities are operational, safe, and meet occupant or investor needs.
Market Behavior
The construction industry traditionally maintains a few main sales channels. A heavy preference for face-to-face sales remains. Long-term relationships are highly regarded, and many businesses depend almost exclusively on reputation or word-of-mouth referrals as a lead source. Conversations leading to new contracts often begin during social events, trade shows, and on work sites.
Use of telemarketing campaigns, digital efforts, and traditional advertising methods like radio, and print is prevalent in the industry. In the commercial space, these tactics are mostly used to promote brand recognition. In the residential space, these methods are expected to generate immediate leads. Referring back to commercial and industrial construction firms, they also subscribe to government agency or private sector bidding platforms/portals where they can identify and bid on available projects.
Selling process change is usually prompted by new technology in the market and is not necessarily related to industry culture or sales channel changes. Estimating, bidding, and project management tools change how they sell because they streamline functions between business partners and clients. Certain tools significantly help reduce the complexity and cost of bidding, estimating and project management, all essential to sales. Examples of well-known systems in this space include iSqFt, Procore, and Buildertrend. Some firms hire construction support services to handle back-office needs so they can focus in-person meetings and other objectives.
Portfolios, Success Stories, and Other Sales Collateral
Well-rounded sales collateral libraries typically start with an attractive project portfolio that tells the story of their experience and abilities. Portfolios should be easy to find on the firm’s website. Print versions can also be handed out to potential clients, especially for high-value projects.
Company brochures are a must whether in print or digital format. They should provide background on the organization, its members, high-level capabilities, market sector focus, and contact information. Digging further into capabilities, case studies highlight past projects, describe obstacles and challenges, solutions and final outcomes. These studies can be used both in marketing and final selling stages.
For demonstrating to more technical buyers, project datasheets will come in handy by providing in-depth information on past project. Datasheets can include the scope of work, timeline, budget and other specifications relevant to the selling situation. Key contributing team members may be named along with their qualifications and achievements related to the project in review.
Finally, although real time communication is extremely powerful in this industry, well-organized testimonials and written reviews will also boost business development efforts. Reviews can be displayed in different formats, used independently, or as supplements to other collateral pieces. We can’t go without mentioning video which can demonstrate emerging field technology, renderings, and other technical and non-technical information.
Tying Up Loose Ends
Buttoning up our conversation about sales in the construction industry, we’ve covered networking between buyers and sellers, market behavior, trends, sales and marketing materials.
There’s lots to cover and it can’t be done in just one article. However, if you have questions about business development outreach at your company, request a free consultation. We’ll be glad to help you come up to a punch-list for upgrading your results!