Is your business strategy better than a neighborhood pickup football game? Do you tell your players what to do before every project? Do they know what to do based on written systems and strategies from your company playbook? A professional football team is a good model to copy for small business owners. Professional teams have a written strategies and playbooks with detailed plays designed to work in every situation they encounter. Do you?
Draft Your Winning Plays!
A professional team must have all their bases covered to put a winning team on the field plus make as much money as possible. Where should you start to draft a winning game plan?
1. Determine Your Overall Company Vision, Purpose, Mission and Core Values!
Sit down with your key managers and take time to discuss why you are business and what’s the purpose for owning your company? This exercise will get you focused on the real reason you go to work every day. I often ask business owners why they are in business. They answer: “to make money doing whatever they do, like construction.” You are not in business to do construction. You are in business to maximize your resources of time, energy and money so you can get the biggest return possible. When you build for your own account, it allows for passive income and equity growth. What’s your reason to be in business? To make money or build wealth?
2. Assign Coaching Management Responsibilities!
To build a winning team, you must surround yourself with the best managers possible. Excellent managers require high pay to keep them. When you hire cheap you hire weak and then you have to fill the gaps, train them, and micro-manage them instead of performing high priority tasks like leading or selling. And you don’t make any money and your business doesn’t grow. Make a list of the top five positions you need filled with the best possible people you can find at whatever it will cost—sales, estimating, operations, field management and finance. Next, decide what position is needed now and will benefit your company the most. Go out and hire at least one top professional to help your company grow. Then look to the future and do it again and again until your company is growing and maximizing the bottom line.
3. List Your Player Accountabilities and Responsibilities!
Most construction business owners don’t spend a lot of time scouting, managing or training employees to help them become the best they can be. To solve this problem, sit down and make a list of all positions and functions you need to operate. Next to each position, list out what results each position is accountable for and what they’re accountable to do on a regular basis. Then look at whom you have assigned to each position. You’ll find that several positions are filled with yourself or the wrong people. How are you as the manager of player personnel?
4. Design Your Offensive Plays and Strategy!
In business, what plays will guarantee you win, finish projects on-time and under budget, plus provide excellent service and provide superior quality? What kind of preparation and checklists do you use? Think about where you can lose the most money the fastest. Make a list of the plays you need to write out and make them standards.
5. Design Your Defensive Plays and Strategy!
Defensive business strategies are those that ensure you don’t get sued or need to hire an attorney to earn your money. We use a checklist on our construction contracts to list out how many days notice is required for things like approvals, changes, notices, changes, etc. We also have a general contract checklist to make sure we don’t miss a clause we won’t want to agree to. We also have a collection policy we follow that includes how we invoice, what we do when not paid, and how to file a lien. What system do you follow when you want to protect your rights or things aren’t going your way?
6. Implement a Training Program!
In construction, most companies don’t train or practice very often, if at all. They just hire people and throw them into the game and hope for great results. Proper training takes a concentrated effort and a priority to implement a comprehensive training plan with exercises and drills to improve people’s skills. To start an effective company-wide training program, make a list of the top five things each position must do well. Make training a priority by implementing a weekly 20-minute training session for each crew. Pick one or two areas to review. Then have them practice doing the task on their own with input and coaching. Remember, no train, no gain!
7. Develop an Equipment Inventory Management System!
Equipment is a valuable part of your team’s success. In your business, employees rely on trucks, skill saws, backhoes, generators, extension cords and screw guns. With outdated, broken or missing tools and equipment, it’s impossible to get the job done efficiently. Start by making a complete list of all your tools and equipment. Next to each piece, write out the condition, maintenance schedule, and rental value. Then assign someone in your company to be in charge of managing the process for you. The ultimate goal is to keep your crews working efficiently so you can make as much money as possible.
8. Initiate Business Development Plays!
The key to success in any business is customers, and lots of them. What is your sales system to sell the most tickets and fill all your seats to the top? Do you regularly contact your repeat and loyal customers and thank them for their business? Do you have an ongoing program to reach out to potential customers and lure them into buying from you?
9. Track Your Financial Plays and Strategy!
In your business, score is of utmost importance. What numbers will you keep score of? I suggest every week you spend time reading your business sports page and get to know your numbers: sales, gross profit, net profit, job costs, employee costs, equipment costs, receivables, payables, bid-hit ratio, and markup trends. Without a clear knowledge of your financial score, you can’t judge how well your team is playing the game.
Play Business Like a Sport
Business is more fun when you manage like a professional sports team owner. Every day ask yourself what decisions you need to make and how would a coach go about making the right decision. To win, you’ve got to be working on all nine cylinders described above. Without any of these chapters in your playbook, you’ll eventually lose more games than you’ll win.
George Hedley, CSP, CPBC, helps contractors grow and profit as a professional business coach, popular speaker and peer group leader. He is the author of “Get Your Construction Business to Always Make a Profit!” and “Hardhat BIZSCHOOL Online University” available—on his website. Visit www.hardhatbizschool.com for more information.
