State of the Market

The retailers are doing what they can to drum up some business, and while I’m not happy to start my Christmas shopping so early, I do admire their proactive approach in taking action to improve their situation.

Although the headline news on the state of the construction market has been disappointing this last week, we need to take a lead from the retailers and take action to improve our business. It’s no good thinking back to the good old days of 2007, it will be a long time, if ever, before we see the like again.

So as the end of a difficult year approaches start to plan some initiatives to improve your business. Perhaps removing unnecessary costs (although you should have done that already) or making your offering more attractive than your competitors.

Start with your customers. Which are your most profitable and loyal? What do they like about working with you and how can you improve upon this? What can you do to stop them switching to your competitors and how can you secure more of their business? Which customers are going to see growth (or minimal decline) next year? Where can you find more customers like these?

Then think about the market. Which sectors are you most successful in and why? What are the prospects for these sectors in the short to medium term? What other market sectors are there which require similar skills and which of these offer the best growth potential?

And finally how are we going to mobilise our company to take advantage of these opportunities now! What actions need to be taken by whom? Agree some action plans with timescales and keep to them. There is nothing worse than having a plan and then not following it through.

If all of this seems a bit daunting, start by booking a place on CIMCIGs Marketing Conference, Strategy 2010 (http://www.cimcig.org/conference.php ) on 2^nd December. Then you can hear some of the industry’s leading practitioners talk about these and other initiatives to help companies face up to the challenges of the coming year.

Chris Ashworth, founder of Competitive Advantage Consultancy (www.cadvantage.co.uk), provides strategic marketing services to the construction industry. He is a member of the organising committee for the Chartered Institute of Marketing Construction Industry Group (CIMCIG -www.cimcig.org).