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Growth Strategies from an Expert

I can honestly say that this time around I don’t feel too nervous about writing my blog even though I needed a bit of a nudge from a friend to get started…
I feel a lot more confident than last time as I did not have to google “blogging for dummies” and “how to write a blog”. Yes, I really did do that previously…😉

My blog today is Growth Strategies from an Expert. Well I am no expert that’s for sure but we are going to be looking at tips from the actual experts.

Wouldn’t you agree that in order to successfully grow your business you need to ensure that you have a well-formulated growth strategy that fits the industry you have chosen? Both profitability and growth are equally important and necessary for a business to survive and remain operational. There is no set growth strategy, it is not a one size fits all kind of thing. Strategies that work for one business may not work for another business, but any business that commits to the process should see the benefits. It is imperative to take the time to prepare a growth strategy in order for business owners to successfully reap the benefits by recognising and seizing new opportunities ahead of the competition. Always remember that realistic strategies lead to positive results.

 

Let’s now look at 10 Growth Strategies from an Expert:

1. Nail your value proposition
Ensuring your business sustains long term growth you need to establish what it is that makes your services / products better than your competitors. What sets you apart from them?

2. Create measurable KPI’s
Firstly, let’s look at what KPI stands for and what is means: Key Performance Indicator – A KPI is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a business is achieving key business objectives. KPI’s are used to evaluate their success at reaching targets. Ok… got it? So now that we have an understanding of what a KPI is, let’s look at how we can create measurable KPI’s. Start by outlining your business objective and make sure you prioritise them in order for your tactics and strategies to be identified so that they are measurable and not impossible in order to reach success.

3. Verify your revenue streams (income)
Recognise your current revenue streams and identify which new ones could be created in order to increase your business profitability.

4. Identify your customer
Identifying and knowing your customer is key for any business endeavour. Successful business owners understand what their customers want and the most effective way of making their product or service available. As a business owner, it is crucial to take every advantage to outsmart your competitor, and understanding and building upon your customer knowledge and relationship will put you ahead of the game.

5. Understand their key requirements
Customers needs and requirements are very important in business. Understanding their needs and ensuring they are happy will retain your customer base.

6. Make the most of existing business data
Look into your company data on a regular basis in order to better understand your business as well as your customer types which will lead to improved business growth.

7. Define the best communication strategies
Approach your audience and establish what is the most effective communication strategy, but this needs defining in a carefully-considered content marketing strategy. Adjust your communications to something that best suits your customer base.

8. Personalise your approach to retain leads
Let’s be honest here, without new customers, your business growth will remain stagnant. If your current customers aren’t sticking around, you’re having to do a lot more work. Your leads are the key to your business growth. So personalise your approach, not every customer is the same and some require more work.

9. Re-evaluate your competition
Never ever take your eyes off of your competition. Find ways and means to be better, this will help with growing your business.

10. Focus on your strengths
Focus on what makes you better than the competition, what sets you apart from everyone else. Identifying ways to grow doesn’t necessarily involve targeting weaknesses, focusing on strengths can also help establish the best strategies going forward. Adapt your plan to smooth out any weakness.

“THERE IS ONLY ONE GROWTH STRATEGY: WORK HARD.” – William Hague

 

Sources:
https://www.constructionbusinessowner.com/topics/strategy/construction-company-management/developing-strategic-construction-business-plan
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/020415/what-more-important-business-profitability-or-growth.asp

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Building relationships to grow your business

Today is the kind of day where I wish inspiration came out of my shower. I’m no business owner and I don’t have any sort of marketing degree behind my name.

I can tell you however, that a business is only as good as the client it serves, and no business gets far after losing the clients it had.

I promise you that not all of my thoughts come from the shower.
I do think out of the box too.

The key to success is building relationships that go beyond one-time projects and provides value to these clients on a consistent, ongoing basis. You have to learn the rules of the game and then you have to play better than anyone else.

Building business relationships are not like any other relationship with a partner, No. It is much more than that.

Money can’t buy one of the most important things you need to build your business, Clients. You can’t have a million dollar dream with minimum work ethic.

How do customer relationships drive your business? It is all about finding people who believe in your product or service. How are you going to do this? You develop relationships with people who don’t just understand your particular expertise, product or service but who are excited and buzzing about what you do.

Relationships have a short shelf life. “There is nothing i can’t do, except reach the top shelf. I can’t do that.” Don’t be that guy! For crying in a bucket, get the ladder and reach the top. One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they come home from networking events and fail to follow up. Make the connection immediately, It’s easier to keep a connection warm than to warm it up again once the trail goes cold.

I would now like to share my knowledge on how to build client relationships:

 

When you make the right connections you’re much more likely to be a success. E-mail marketing keeps a work relationship strong on a shoestring budget.
Build a reputation by giving away free insight. Come on who doesn’t love free things?

Make the E-mail interesting and worth the read, most important make connection with the same people that shares the same interests and goals as you.

 

 

 

Reward loyal customers and they will reward you, for example the CEO at Leads 2 Business will host a lovely golf day for all our clients. Make them feel special and appreciated.
Once you show them, that appreciation they will be around for a very long time.

 

The saying, “Give and you shall receive” goes a very long way when it comes to this.

 

 

 

Own it, this may be the most difficult skill to master because it hits home morally and shows your human side. When something goes wrong you may have to take the bullet even if it wasn’t your fault or the company’s fault.

If it was you or the company that was in the wrong being respectful and honest shows vulnerability and the ability to take criticism that goes with being wrong.

Step in without being asked, it is easy to help when you are asked. Most people will. People who build client relationships pay close attention so that they can tell when others are struggling.

Offer to help, not just to build a good relationship with your client base, but because you care.

With all this said I would like to remind you to be authentic.

Be genuine. Be real.

 

Here is a quote for the day:

By being remarkable, being genuine, you can be worth connecting with. And you don’t have to have it all figured out perfectly the first time – you can adjust.

~ Seth Godin ~

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Sources:
https://youinc.com/content/leadership/building-relationships-to-grow-your-business-in-five-easy-steps
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthaharrington/2017/06/30/how-to-build-strong-business-relationships/#76dd6859356f
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296469

700 000 Tenders

On the 28 May 2018, Leads 2 Business celebrated the publishing of our 700 000th tender notice.

And like the publishing of the 600 000th, the 500 000th and all the big milestone tenders that have come before; I laugh at how fleeting the moment is. In fact, between that moment and now; L2B has published an additional 2000 plus tenders. Being then asked to write a blog article on this occasion, seems a bit late to the party.

Were we surprised by hitting that number? No. We’ve been looking out for it for awhile. In fact, we were hoping to hit it the Friday before.

The fact is, we’d hit 700 000 at some point. It’s guaranteed, like death and taxes. So whether we publish one tender a day or 100 tenders a day; the milestones will come. Does that diminish the accomplishment? No. The accomplishment doesn’t lie in the number. It’s taken years to get to this point. Numerous staff, current and past, have contributed by doing what needs to be done. Getting the work in, and getting the work out.

The usual words bandied about concerning the publishing of tenders is monotonous, routine, repetitive. I can see you’re just chomping at the bit, to become part of this exciting and glamourous data capturing world. Like all things, it isn’t that straight forward or that simple.
I’m a huge advocate of “It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it”. How you do something speaks volumes, and that “how” can be applied to any aspect of your life.

When attempting to come up with an approach for this article, two words kept cropping up; namely “consistency” and “preparation”. Consistency gets a bad rap. It’s usually lumped in with the “repetitive” and “monotonous” crowd. There’s nothing exciting about being consistent, clearly. But that’s what 700 000 tenders represents; consistency. What we did yesterday, is what we have to do
today. And hoping against hope, that’s something to be proud of.

Now, I’m a creature of habit. I like routine, and cannot abide surprises. My skill set is better suited to thoughtful preparation, rather than “fly by the seat of your pants” recklessness (much to the chagrin of those I work with). So I recognise when my colleagues also show consistency in their work, recognise that it isn’t always an easy process. Being reliable in this day and age, is hard and rare.

Preparation comes from seeing the bigger picture. It isn’t only today, that needs to be handled. Coming in early, and skipped lunches, staying late, doubling up to compensate for Public Holidays and downed websites, supporting colleagues and actively carrying your own weight day in and day out. These decisions are made throughout L2B (in every Department) every day to meet targets, meet and even exceed expectations and strengthen our internal Culture of Excellence. Scoff all you want. But like I said; it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. And quite frankly, if you want to be good at anything in your life; accept consistency and preparation and be better for it.

 

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but we rather have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”
– Aristotle.

So let’s see if our habits get us to 800 000 by February 2020.

 

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Building Business Relationships!

Yes, yes we have all heard the above statement before. I am sure everyone within a business setting has had this drilled into their heads over and over.

So could we actually learn anything new??

Yes, of course we can……..

HOW?

Let me start off by giving you a little insight into something I found recently.
As you know Facebook has become a great way of communication and branding worldwide and we all have close friends and colleagues that utilise this social tool to express their opinions and of course achievements.
One of my friends on Facebook had done exactly that with regards to a big sale he had closed and it caught my eye, especially being within a business environment any success story intrigues me.

He had expressed the fact that after a year of prospecting a potential client, with endless amounts of meetings, drinking coffee and sitting through conversations that had absolutely nothing to do with what he had to offer………

HE FINALLY CLOSED THAT DEAL!!

 

Wow, could you see yourself prospecting a client for a year?

This is when I knew building a relationship with a client does not start once you get your first order or sale, but it starts from the time you walk into that door to meet your potential client.

 

PEOPLE LIKE PEOPLE – Meeting a potential client for the first time should be the most important introduction you have going forward, people like what they see and how they interact with you. Being yourself and showing how intrigued you are with their business and what they have to say is the first step in building that business relationship you want.

 

TIME IS CRITICAL – I know in the business world the quicker you close the deal the better, but there are some of those potential clients that you know you need to just give a little extra attention to. Use that to your advantage by spending that small amount of time you have on making sure your business relationship gets stronger by each meeting. Ultimately once you get that first order your relationship is already there.

 

POSITIVITY – Although some conversations might end up side tracked from your initial intent of getting down to business, always try to make a positive statement back to your company and or product/service that you want them to hear. Positivity will continually sit in the back of the mind of the customer and they will then start to understand how great you are and how beneficial your product or service is for them.

 

EQUAL SUCCESS – Vital point in building that strong relationship, even though your customer is important to you and you want to continue ensuring you get business from them, also ensure that they know how important you are to them. Get them to understand that they need you and that they can rely on you at all times to get them what they need. Having that type of mind set will make for a long term business relationship that they nor you would like to see crack.

 

COMMUNICATION – Keeping all lines of communication open between you and a customer always brings a sense of security to the relationship, if these lines are crossed it could put pressure and strain on your relationship and ultimately put you in a situation where you might not be able to build up that relationship again or even take you a longer time. Clients like honestly and always ensure that you are straight forward to them, them being secure will ultimately make you and them happy.

 

RESPECT – Respecting one another in all aspects, personal and business is an important point that should always be considered, never step onto client’s feet that might cause tension between you two. Know your boundaries with a client either before or once a deal has been closed.

 

OFFERING – Although you are building this relationship to ensure future business, always offer your potential or existing clients some help where needed. Your knowledge into a sector of the industry that they might be battling with can always strengthen your partnership within the relationship. They know you have their back and only want them to succeed.

 

From reading the above, you should have gathered a better understanding that building a business relationship comes from the very beginning but does not stop.

Always find ways to strengthen this relationship as it can always grow and become stronger, but always keep in mind the boundaries and where you stand.

As it has always been said . . . .”IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO” , make sure you the first one that initiates this business relationship, it will only build up for a great future.

 

Sources:

https://hingemarketing.com/blog/story/5_keys_to_building_business_relationships
https://www.google.co.za/search?q=building+business+relationships

 

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Starting a Business a.k.a Start-ups

What do I know of Start Ups? Sorry to disappoint… But nothing really, other than what I’ve seen in the hit TV series ‘The Start-up’ – and with all I’ve seen in this show – the 1st 2 things I figured out is:

A – Good Idea!! Before even going through the life changing experience, and deep dark evil world of starting a Start-up, is first needing a Good – no, scrap that, an EXCELLENT idea! Something everyone WANTS to NEED – they don’t necessarily need it – they just have to want to need it. Once they’ve had it – they can’t be without it!

 

 

B – TRUST NO ONE! And I mean NO ONE! The business world can be cruel and conniving! Everyone wants to make a buck and as good business men know, ruthlessness is the most rewarding trait!

 

People see a million dollar idea, and all they see is dollar signs – and too bad for you if you’re not smart, stubborn and conniving enough to make sure that you don’t get locked out of your own million dollar idea (like in the The Startup!! Crazy stuff!) Sad right? Oh well – that’s life my dear fellow humans.
Stealth Performance Communications chairman had 1 crucial tip to share: “Build in silence; they can’t stop what they can’t see,” he cited as his advice, during an interview Peter Daisyme had with him at a conference.” – From Peter Daisyme Blog. True words that!
That’s the end of my advice – as an unqualified individual that knows nothing of starting your own business.

 

So my thoughts are to complete my blog on a lighter note – with a few fun business facts you just got to know!

As surprising as it might be, the business world is indeed a fascinating place!

• The reason blue is Facebook’s main colour : Mark Zuckerberg suffers from red-green colour blindness – mind blowing right!
• Google was originally called BackRub
• Apple became the first ever $700 billion company in 2015
• Ever wondered how many brands Coca-Cola has? As many as, if you decide to drink a different brand of Coca-Cola every day – it will take you 9 years to try them all! Say what???
• The average mobile user checks their phone 150 times a day!
• Legendary McDonald’s first item on their menu was a hotdog!
• Domino’s pizza was founded by 2 brothers, one of which decided to trade his half of the business to his brother for a used Volkswagen Beetle! Can you say MAJOR REGRET!!
• Think – ‘yummy Vaseline’ eeuw right – well, the inventor of Vaseline used to eat a spoonful every day! – None other than, Mr Robert Chesebrough
• The famous Starbucks is named after a character in Moby Dick
• Money and poverty – estimated in 2012: If the 100 richest people in the world put all their yearly earnings together, they could have had enough to end world poverty 4 times over!
• The designer of the famous Nike swoosh tick was paid $35 – really?
• Marvel owned the rights to the word ‘Zombie’ up to 1996 – yay for the end of that! Just think of all the awesome scary Zombie movies we would have missed out on if that hadn’t changed?

Blown away yet? Well I saved the best for last:

• Walmart averages $1.8 million of profit… daily? Oh no, wait for this… HOURLY! $1.8 million profit every hour! Wrap your mind around that!!!

 

To end off, another delightful and inspiring quote from the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox:

“Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once.”

 

 

Sources:

http://www.123print.co.uk/blog/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/peter-daisyme

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The importance of maintaining equipment

 

Construction equipment is a major investment, the machinery does not come cheap and neither is replacing it if the equipment breaks down.
Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, however if you wish to extend the lifespan of your equipment, best you engage in preventative maintenance.
With preventative maintenance potential problems can be identified and repaired whilst still minor issues before they become major, costly repairs.
With regular servicing, machinery and equipment will be kept in tip top shape, items such as fuel and oil filters, spark plugs and belts need to be replaced regularly to ensure the smooth running of equipment.
Rubber belts deteriorate due to use and length of time, the rubber perishes. If the oil is not changed it becomes sludge which can damage the bearings and cause the engine to seize.

 

 

 

Lack of maintenance is a costly mistake, if the equipment is not maintained, it can lead to costly repairs and down time. With strict time lines to be adhered to, downtime could lead to unnecessary penalties.
Regular servicing enables the equipment to run efficiently and cost effectively, saving one money on fuel as the equipment will be fuel efficient. Equipment needs to be inspected regularly to check for wear and tear.
Should a part of the machinery not be running at its optimum it needs to be examined and repaired immediately before it causes further damage.

A preventative maintenance plan is essential to ensure that all equipment is kept in excellent operating condition. These can be based on operating hours or a set time period i.e. every 6 weeks.
In this economic climate, it is becoming common practice to ignore the problem in the hope that it will go away.

Being a mechanic’s daughter I have learned the importance of preventative maintenance as opposed to crises maintenance, the benefits far outweigh the costs of the repairs and the unnecessary downtime.

So don’t delay get your preventative maintenance plan in place today, it will save you money in the long run!

 

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What they are, how do they work and what are they used for?

I am pretty sure most of us have driven past a construction site and wondered what the various machines are used for. Some are humongous!
Those are the ones that require those traffic-slowing “abnormal loads” that we pass now and then on the highway. I always look at the machines being transported, and try to imagine what they do.
To solve a bit of the mystery for some of us, I have gone on a research mission to determine the names and uses of five construction machines that I think could be of interest.

 

Articulated Haulers

This type of machine is also known as an articulated dump truck (ADT), and is capable of traversing tough terrain.
These dump trucks are used for the removal of earth or construction rubble, among other types of materials, and have also been effective for snow removal. In an extreme situation, Linco Construction in Texas used their articulated haulers to evacuate victims of a Hurricane

 

 

 

 

 

Dragline Excavators

Dragline excavators are often used in road and underwater excavation, and in surface mining.
The heavier types of dragline excavators usually have to be assembled on site. These machines use a bucket and rope system to gather materials and dump them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheepsfoot Rollers

The purpose of a sheepsfoot roller, which is also known as a tamping roller or padfoot roller, is used for soil compaction.
A typical sheepsfoot roller is made up of a drum with stud-like protrusions covering the surface of the drum. These studs can be manufactured in different sizes, depending on the type of soil that is to be compacted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold planers

Cold planers are used to remove the surface of paved areas – a process known as milling. These milling machines grind the surface of, for example, a road (asphalt), in order to lay new asphalt, or to smooth out the road surface.
Milling allows for the road surface to be recycled, making it a positive factor in ongoing efforts to curb negative impacts on the environment.
Cold planers use a milling drum to cut the paved surface. Tool holders, which are attached around the drum, hold cutting tools which cut the pavement.
The milled materials are held in the machine’s scrapper, and then transferred from the cold planer, using a conveyor belt, to another vehicle to be transported from the site.

 

 

 

 

 

Tower Cranes

 

Cranes are often the first construction machines that we see, even when the site is not in plain sight – see what I did there 😉 These are very tall machines, which are used to lift various types of materials, in order to place them where they are required.
A typical tower crane consists of a base, mast, slewing unit, machinery arm, counter weights and an operator’s cab. The base of the crane is secured to a concrete pad, which provides support. The tower section (or mast) gives the crane height, and is connected to the base. The slewing unit houses the motor which allows the crane to rotate, and also includes a working arm (longer horizontal section), machinery arm (shorter horizontal section) and counter weights. The crane operator manoeuvres the crane from the operator’s cab.

 

 

 

 

During my research into this topic, I have enjoyed learning more about some of the machines that I have seen, but knew nothing about.

I do hope that next time you pass a construction site, and you see some of the machines that I have mentioned, that you will have a better understanding of their purpose.

 

Sources:
Babcock
Google
Wikipedia
Engineering Intro

 

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Under water construction

So whilst many of us think of underwater construction we think of it as a more modern building technique and we think of all the construction in Dubai, however in fact underwater construction actually dates as far back as to 23 BCE where Roman builders constructed the largest artificial harbour ever built in the open sea to date. Caeserea Maritima, where the remains can still be found.

We then have more modern examples of underwater construction like Lake Kariba where construction started in 1955 and was completed in 1959 and cost around 480 million USD.
We also have the world’s first underwater hotel built of the coast of Key Largo Florida which was actually a research facility dating back to the 1970’s La Chalupa Research Laboratory which has been converted into a hotel, named Under The Sea Lodge which opened it’s doors to guests in 1986. This building is completely underwater and is only accessible by scuba diving more than 6 meters down and gaining access via a “moon pool” which is located under the building.
We then have the mega structures in Dubai where they have taken underwater construction to new depths constructing islands and underwater hotels and water theme parks like The Palms and Atlantis.

So how does one actually build underwater?
Well you have to firstly create a stable and dry environment in which to build in order to work in the environment and place concrete in it.

We have basically two different methods / techniques in which to build underwater.
Firstly we have Cofferdams, which are temporary structures normally used where the construction area is larger and the water depth less, you also get different types of cofferdams.

• Earthen cofferdams,
• Doubled Cofferdams
• Rockfill Cofferdams
• Single walled Cofferdams
• Crib cofferdams
• Cellular cofferdams

Cofferdams are normally used for constructing bridge piers and other supporting structures

Then you get Caissons which are more permanent large hollow watertight structures which are used for repairing bridge foundations and dams.

You also get different type of caissons, namely:

• Box Caissons
• Open Caisson
• Suction Caisson
• Pneumatic Caisson

A good example of construction using Caissons is the Port of Ngquru just outside Port Elizabeth, which used 5 Caissons anchoring the ends of the breakwaters which required 18 000m³ of reinforced concrete.

So whilst there are different types of underwater construction it remains quite a complex and challenging construction method testing the boundaries of construction in general.

 

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