How to grow your contracting business

Deciding to grow your business is a big step. Here’s what comes next:

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Know the secrets to growth

To grow in the contracting space, you’ll need to solve the following problems (don’t worry, most companies have them.)

Growth secret #1

Outsource vs DIY

High-growth contractors know they must focus on revenue-generating activities and leave cumbersome administrative problems to companies that know how to perform these tasks efficiently. Every minute you spend doing inefficient tasks means time away from selling and missed growth opportunities.

Growth secret #2

Staff

Demand in the industry fluctuates based on weather events, as you know. When a storm hits, you’ll need to quickly ramp up staff. It’s not easy to find staff quickly. Having dependable partners with well trained staff is the secret to quick growth. Internal staff is a significant investment (maybe your biggest). It’s unreasonable to think you can ramp up staff quick enough to take advantage of market opportunities and even if it were possible, profitability will drop significantly. Focus on hiring revenue generating staff in critical times. Find a great outsourced solution to manage the costly administrative tasks (if you want to grow).

Growth secret #3

Compliance

How much time do you have to keep up to date on the ever changing compliance landscape? If you’re trying to grow, not much. Reputable outsourcing partners spend a significant portion of their time understanding compliance issues because they know how devastating it can be when contractors are out of compliance.

Growth secret #4

Processes

During growth periods, internal processes are stress tested. If your internal processes were built to handle the level you’re at now, they’ll likely need significant improvements to achieve the next level.

Growth secret #5

TOOLS

Leveraging technology and operational tools is critical to maintaining efficiency. But, there are so many tools available! Where do you start? A partner that is well versed in the industry can bring clarity to the questions about what, when, and how to implement the best technologies in the industry.

Growth secret #6

CLOSING PROFIT HOLES

Contractors are constantly under financial pressure with payroll, material purchases, insurance, etc. When a contractor is mishandling or passively managing supplementing activities, the pressure intensifies to extraordinary levels. It’s especially common to see contractors losing absurd amounts of money on jobs. Recouping lost profits that are legally and ethically owed to them for the work that was provided is an essential part of fueling growth. Working for free is a profit hole that must be fixed.

Growth secret #7

TRAINING

The best contractors in the industry are continuous learners. They constantly look to build new skills so that they can be ready to capture growth opportunities as they arise. Having a great training partner for executives and staff means higher profits and less cost.

Growth secret #8

UNDERSTAND BEST PRACTICES

Growing a business is often a lonely endeavor with a lot of trial and error. Find partners that understand the industry and, more importantly, have seen and help implement best practices in multiple companies.

Solve these problems

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Find your competitive advantages and your outsource match

Each contractor has unique combinations of advantages they can leverage to grow. Consider your biggest advantages. These are the activities you’ll want to keep in house. Your less dominant advantages are great outsourcing options.The more time spent focusing on what you’re great at will mean more profit. Here are a few common contractor types.

Which are you?

The gifted practitioner

The practitioners find competitive advantages in the actual work. They tend to be great at developing new methods to complete projects and wow customers with craftsmanship. When they spend time reviewing construction methods, materials, and operational staff, they enhance their competitive advantage. When they are pulled away from the activities to focus on paperwork, such as claims handling and estimates, they reduce that competitive advantage.

Balance outsource match:

Complete claims handling process
Technology implementations
Process refinements

GOAL:

KEEP STAFF FOCUSED ON CRAFTSMANSHIP AND HIGH CUSTOMER SERVICE

The sales rockstar

The sales rockstars can close deals like nobody else. They develop advantages by outpacing competitors in their prospecting and sales activities. They hire great salespeople and then train them to be even better. Every dollar and every minute spent on sales results in huge returns on investment. Their challenge? Operations and administrative headaches. To be great at sales requires extreme focus. Time spent away from their advantage costs them more than the others because they lose profit on the task and they miss sales opportunities.

Balance outsource match:

Complete claims handling process (Xactimate, supplementing)
CRM and sales technology implementation
Process consulting

GOAL:

REDUCE TIME AWAY FROM SALES

The operations prodigy

The prodigies can streamline business processes in their sleep. Efficient operations lead to greater profits as fat is trimmed across the organizations. Staff is optimized. Processes are under constant improvement.

Balance outsource match:

Advanced supplement training
Technology implementations
Best practices
Claims handling overflow

GOAL:

CONTINUOUS PROCESS REFINEMENT AND REDUCTION OF STRESS DURING PEAK BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

The franchise quarterback

The quarterbacks coordinate operational players unlike any other. Their advantage comes in the way of coordinating multiple outsource partners to achieve a common goal: unparalleled profitability. By keeping staff to extraordinarily low levels, the quarterbacks have especially low costs and industry leading profit margins. They know the value of focusing on their core business. They seek to eliminate any activities that they aren’t good at and choose partners to do the tasks that cost them profit margin points instead. Challenge? Finding the best partners.

Balance outsource match:

Complete back office support (supplementing, estimating, administration)
Technology implementation and training
Process development
Introduction to industry leading companies

GOAL:

ESTABLISH TRUSTED PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE BEST COMPANIES AND ENSURE MANAGMENT OF PARTNERS IS EASY

BALANCE OFFERS CUSTOM SOLUTIONS FOR EVERY CONTRACTOR PROFILE

Schedule a call

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Gather and implement the tools for success

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FIND THE RIGHT ASSOCIATIONS

Growing in the industry means having the right relationships with the right people. Organizations like the American Policyholders Association and The Catalyst Group make it easy to meet active industry participants and develop connections with other ambitious owners.

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SELECT THE BEST TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Technology is hard to choose. There are simply too many options. How much time do you really have to vet out all of them? Balance partners with the biggest and most successful technology groups to provide our clients with a full suite of technology solutions that we can help implement. We know they work because we’ve implemented them in numerous operations big and small.

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FIND THE TRAINING YOU NEED

Balance recently acquired The Art of the Supplement. With live events and online training, AOTS provides Balance clients with advanced training in supplementing and claims administration.

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KEEP YOUR NOSE CLEAN

Compliance is key. Claims handling is not only about implementing efficient and profitable processes, but also processes that are legal and ethical. Taking risks in this area is not advised. Ensuring you receive full compensation for the work you’ve completed for your clients is strongly advised.

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SELECT THE RIGHT PARTNERS

There are numerous options for just about every category of services for contractors. But there are only a few service providers that have long histories of adding value to businesses like yours. Choosing the wrong partner because their fees were slightly less will absolutely cost you much more than you save.

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