I have a colleague who works in the construction industry, initially in the insulation industry and latterly in the glazing systems market. He’s a great guy and full of the joys of spring.
Talk to him about the merits of Pilkington K glass or ask him to explain window energy ratings and he’ll wax lyrical for many an hour (especially if he has beer in his hand!). How I admire someone who is so passionate and full of belief for the company in which he works.
Talk to him about the economic climate and how “safe” he feels at the moment and you’ll get a different story about how the construction industry in general is going through a hard time.
“Work in the public sector is holding up and that’s only to be expected as the government pledges to keep on spending and not make any cuts – well at least until after the election!
Construction in the private sector however is a different story and particularly is what’s called the domestic sector – that which is paid for by you and me. At the end of the day, when the average man in the street is worried about his job, the last thing on his mind is going to whether to build an extension to his house, add another layer of loft insulation or buy a new conservatory.”
Read the papers or indeed many of the other articles on this site and you cannot escape the fact that many companies (and not just in the construction industry) are having a bad time of it. The budgets have been done for next financial year, the revenue forecast is poor due to a lower selling price and input costs continue to rise on the back of the price of oil so there’s only one way to make ends meet and that’s is to reorganise and cut heads.
The publicity of redundancies leads to a lack of confidence in job security and we tighten our belts, is it any wonder that the average man of woman in the street is not spending as much as they were a couple of years ago.
So given all this doom and gloom, why is it that business is booming for me? Ok, my business is not quite in the same league as some of those in the construction industry but the same rules apply – and this is where I have been focusing my attention for the last two or three years:
Customer Focus
Ensuring that every product I supply arrives on time and in full based on my customers initial request and not the delivery date finally agreed. Ultimately if you get it right then of course the two dates are one and the same.
Keep The Overheads Low
It is very easy when times are good to spend more money on premises, people or other investments. I always apply the same decision making rules to expenditure or investment in the good times as I do in the bad times.
Spend Your Marketing Budget Wisely
I attend business networking groups because I find that this is not just a low cost method of marketing is also extremely focused. It has to be said also that when times are hard, networkers work all the harder to give and receive quality referrals
This last point is in my opinion the single most important and I would recommend business networking to anyone who wants to drive their business forward when times are hard. So if you’re like me, get business networking on the brain hone your business networking skills, get some business networking advice and join some business networking groups!
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