Competition is the name of the game and players are very willing to be one step ahead of the others. It has become a vicious rat race in which only the strong at heart will survive, either totally unscathed or bearing battle scars as testament to their resilience. The losers will fall by the wayside, not only humiliated, but disgraced to the point of nothingness.
The contractor business, a certified showdown of alpha male personalities, is proof of this scenario. It follows that it is not for the faint of heart. You need a focused, determined, highly intellectual person to pursue your passions but still have the energy left to plan ahead and secure your proverbial place in the sun, letting the competition eat your dust.
If you want to be the victor in this race to the land of success, here are some essential guidelines to live by.
Expand your knowledge and improve your skills. These two aspects should always go together like Romeo and Juliet, the ball and socket, the tenon and the mortise, pairs that have been made to last a lifetime. Having one without the other is simply unthinkable. Why? It is useless to have knowledge if you cannot put it into practice. On the contrary, your abilities will lose their value if you have no idea of the reason for performing such a task. Therefore, it is imperative to maintain a balance between the two. Participate in discussions and forums that promote these progressive actions. Learn from the experts if you need to. It is not necessary to hire them for individual classes. Reading their books, if they have any, or studying their previous works will go a long way toward honing your craft.
Customers will feel reassured if they are dealing with a contractor who can explain, in simple terms, the solutions to their problems. If they come across someone who can’t seem to answer their questions or can’t show them what to do, they’ll get discouraged and decide to hire someone else.
Encourage bulk orders, promote discounted products, and dramatically reduce the price of your service quotes. This is not a suicide mission. It is a way to make your customers happy to stay ahead of the curve. Customers always get this giddy feeling when they feel like they’ve saved on expenses. On bulk orders, you can increase sales by selling many products at a lower price. Although your profit will be less than when you sell piece by piece, at least you are still earning decently. The same principle holds true if you cut your margins and advertise discounted products and service charges. Customers will come back again and again, knowing that you are looking not only for their money, but also for their well-being in terms of financial health.
You can also make good use of the power of networks. Whether you want to go old school by using word of mouth referrals to improve your image or go the modern route of using the internet, you’ll still win because this method has been proven for so many years by marketers in all kinds of industries. . . It is a value for money technique that can never be surpassed by other systems.
In summary, the three aforementioned tips for staying ahead of the contractor game are as follows: expand your knowledge and improve your skills, keep your customers happy through price cuts, and use the power of networking. Apply them to your career and prepare to be crowned king of the contracting industry.
