Relationships can make you or break you; financially, professionally and personally. Stephen R. Covey has written and spoken extensively on this subject and most notably in his book The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People.
The idea is when you first meet someone you automatically credit that person with a small amount of emotional trust and they do the same for you. In due time you both make deposits and withdrawals into and out of each other's emotional bank account. The key is to make far and away many more deposits than withdrawals and keep the withdrawals to a minimum.
If your word Is Law and you keep your agreements, no matter what, you will make massive deposits into the emotional bank accounts of everyone who knows, likes and trusts you.
If someone's word is worthless and they rarely, if ever keep their agreements, they make massive withdrawals out of the emotional bank accounts of everyone who knows them. In the end they pay a heavy price in terms of peace of mind and cold hard cash. Every Hard-Ball Negotiator I have ever known has a negative balance with everyone they meet including their friends and family.
Every Fair Minded person I have ever known has enormous positive balance with everyone they meet and especially their friends and family. And that positive balance can be used, sparingly and with caution to everyone's benefit and it will generate hefty piles of cold hard cash.
During all the years owning and operating construction companies we developed working relationships with all of our material suppliers, tool vendors, staffing agencies, tax preparers, attorneys, truck and van dealers, automotive repair shops, oil change stores and every other item we needed on a regular basis.
Step #01 Make A Short List Of Suppliers And Buy A Few Things
Rate the list from A-E based on convenience, how they treat you and price. Then narrow the list down to one for each category and that will be your "Prime Supplier" for that product or service.
Step #02 Setup A Lunch Meeting
Setup a lunch meeting with the sales representative or manager and suggest that you would like to make their company your "Prime Supplier" for whatever it is you purchase there. Make it clear that if they do not or cannot supply your needs in a timely fashion you will go to the next supplier on your list for those items.
In exchange for your commitment ask that to always be given a fair price and terms for everything you purchase. Not a super-duper-low-ball-sharpen-your-pencil-cut-costs-to-bone-killer-deal, just a fair price and terms.
Step #03 Honor Your Commitment
They will know very quickly your word is Law and you keep your agreements, no matter what. This may seem strange at first; however, in the long run your reputation will precede you and if someone is not treating you fair another supplier will be on your door step ready to serve you.
Every business has excess inventory, underutilized capacity and always looking for ways to maximize profits and minimize losses. It costs roughly 5X more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep a current customer so keeping current customers happy is the number one priority for all successful companies.
Free Material
Let's say you are a plumbing company and you use a lot of fixtures and faucets and one of the major manufacturers wants to get their new line of fixtures and faucets into the hands of plumbing contractors.
Often times they will contact plumbing wholesale suppliers and ask if they know any plumbing contractors who would like some FREE fixtures and faucets in exchange for providing a testimonial or an endorsement. Major sports stars and racecars generate a huge pile of cash promoting products and smart contractors have been doing it for decades!
Turn Excess Inventory Into Cash
Do you have excess unused inventory in your shop? Is there a Prime Supplier you work with that would take it off your hands either for immediate cash (deep discount) credit against future purchases (slight discount) or consignment? Many successful high profits, cash rich, contractors buy up the assets of their competitors and take the excess inventory directly from the point of purchase to the Prime Supplier and end up 100% or more Return On Investment (ROI).
Job Accounts
You have unlimited access to funds to buy material if your Prime Supplier offers "Job Accounts". This is a simple yet powerful tool. Your Prime Supplier sets up separate accounts for each large project you are working on; and all of the material and supplies that go directly to that job are billed separately, and tied to the property itself. In most cases it means you will get joint checks made out to you and the Prime Supplier. They take their part and you get your part.
Instant Qualified Referrals
Every Prime Supplier is asked by the public and their friends and contacts for contractor referrals. Every roofing supplier, plumbing part supplier, lumber yard, window manufacturer, tool salesman, cement supplier etc. Your relationship with these Prime Suppliers can generate fantastic high profit clients which can lead to ridiculously obscene amounts of money with little or effort on your part.
This is not just an academic exercise or an idea. These are only a few of the hundreds of techniques we used during our years owning and operating construction and service and repair companies. If you want to know more of them visit www.FastEasyAccounting.com and listen to the Contractors Success M.A.P. Podcast.
For Construction Company Owners who do not need the full power of QuickBooks for contractors and want 24/7 online access we offer Xero Accounting Online and we have custom setup for construction companies. Click Here For More.
This Is One More Example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners all across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to people like you so stop missing out! Call Sharie 206-361-3950 or sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com and schedule your no charge one-hour consultation.
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About The Author:
Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Check out our Contractor Success Map Podcast on iTunes and Follow Randal on Google+