Becoming A General Contractor Requires People Skills
I see a lot of situations where a skilled laborer has begun the process of learning how to become a general contractor but hasn’t yet thought about other more personal steps that need to be taken. More specifically, a lot of these folks are woefully ill-prepared from a social skills standpoint. Being a general contractor is about more than organizing laborers and collecting checks; it’s about dealing with all types of personalities and knowing how to reach people on a personal level so that you can effectively sell.
Many will hear this type of advice and blow it off because they believe that their construction skills are so adept and their business relationships so strong that they don’t need to be a good communicator, but they do so at their own risk. I’ve seen numerous scenarios where a highly skilled general contractor went out of business in less than a year because he or she did not have good people skills. This kind of person has huge hurdles to overcome because they don’t do a good job of selling to prospective clients, and when they do score a project they end up coming across as rude or dismissive, which makes the chance for referrals slim to none. A previous customer is always your most valuable resource when it comes to getting a new contractor lead, so it behooves you to treat those that hire you with kid gloves.
If you’re one of these kinds of people and you still have your mind set on becoming a general contractor or starting your own small construction business then there are a few options available to you. The option I would recommend is that you consider bringing on staff a professional salesperson and/or customer service manager. Of course this route is an added expense but it allows you to hand off these duties to a more qualified person who will probably close more sales and bring you more business than you ever could have pulled off on your own. If you can’t afford a salesman then your only other option is to improve yourself. You’ll have to force yourself to become more outgoing and personable. This is easier said than done and often requires years of practice, but if you’re determined to make it happen then you can do it. In the process you’ll not only enrich your business but you’ll enrich your life in general.
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