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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Your best referral: The best client of your potential client

So, you are a subcontractor looking for profitable work. You are fed up with the nickel-and-diming and bidding wars, and would like to win some solid sole-source non-competitive maintenance work, where you can earn a decent profit. How do you find this business?

The answer may simply be to knock on the door of the company you wish to serve -- they may need your services, and will do a deal. But if you want to be more creative, and have a much better chance of success, find someone who is a really good client of that business, and obtain a referred introduction to your target business.

Nothing opens doors more than referral calls -- and nothing has more power (if you wish to be a supplier) than a solid referral (or better yet, more than one referral) from your prospective client's client base.

The key to successful marketing is to put yourself in the right place in business value stream. For more insights on this methodology (which I will elaborate on more in later blog entries), I recommend you read "Breaking the No Barrier" by the late Walter Haily. It is out of print, but used copies are available at Amazon.com.

Does this method work? It is one of the key foundations of my business. Find the book on the used book market -- it is simply written, now a little outdated -- but the message may give you the clues for marketing success that you are seeking.

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