3 Strategies to Help Build Your Strategic Relationships Within the Construction Industry
If your construction company is like most, then about 80% of your success – both today and in the future – will be a result not of the services you offer or the prices you charge, but of your ability to successfully run a company. This may seem counterintuitive but the reality is that if you want to be successful for years to come, you must concentrate on your business acumen. Read on to get three strategies that will help you improve the strategic relationships you’re involved in.
The purpose of strategic relationships
Before we show you how to change them, let’s discuss why strategic relationships are important in the first place. They allow your company to become larger without the need for expanding your base. Think of these strategic relationships as synergistic ideas. They are essential a mindset.
When you can start to think of these relationships in this way, then you’ll experience some serious benefits. For example, consider your accountant. Instead of looking at them as nothing more than a person who provides balance sheets, look at them as a teacher or financial advisor. Don’t just meet to go over reports, have lunch and ask them about the key metrics they work with and their ideas on how to increase net margins. Your accountant may even have access to new client bases but you’ve never asked them.
In short, every relationship has the potential to be strategic. Don’t just think of your vendors, employees, or clients as fitting into one box. They all have something unique to take advantage of, it’s just a matter of seeing it.
- Stopping using the word “vendor”
- Keep an eye out for the mavens
- Remember that to give is to get
First and foremost, stop using the word “vendor.” In fact, stop thinking it at all. Instead, use the phrase “strategic alliance.” The bottom is that just by referring to someone as a strategic partner, you begin to look at them in a different way. Both you and your vendor will get into the mindset of looking for win-win ideas.
A maven is someone with whom a strategic alliance would result in ten times the positive results as another. They have more ideas, their list of contacts is longer, and their insights are very useful. When you find a maven, invest more of your time and energy into improving your relationship.
This isn’t a one-way street. You can’t simply find ways to get more from these strategic relationships – you must give as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean money or other tangible resources – though it might. It means thinking strategically about how your investments today could result in payoffs tomorrow.
At Grove Hardware we are proud to off our clients the best job site supplies around. Our employees are experienced professionals who can help you decide on everything from the best safety gear to the right fasteners for any job. Feel free to stop by our give us a call at 909-544-4331 if you have questions.
