An exciting time to be in the building industry...
For the first time in a long while there is genuine market enthusiasm. 2013 annualized U.S.
housing starts are forecasted to be more than a million. Despite major weather issues, many
markets report better than expected results and are on-track to show real growth this year.
To set yourself apart and really grow your business, conventional wisdom has always been
you had to find a niche and serve it well. In light of the considerable changes our industry
has faced, what can you do to set yourself apart now? I think you must find out exactly what
new problems your customers and prospects are facing in order to deliver better solutions
with more value. After all isn't that why your customers work with you today?
Looking for new customer problems to solve is not always easy, but it is the best way to
secure long term growth. One area that has changed dramatically over the past decade is
how residential professionals work together. Today, many problems faced by the structural
framing industry can be linked to either "form or function." Building plans with appealing
design form too often simply will not function as specified. After field problems surface,
progress slows, jobsite blueprints get red-lined and costs go up. It just makes sense to find
better ways to collaborate early on as a way of creating more value.
So how do you get started?
1) Challenge yourself and your staff to find new ways to solve customer problems.
This will lead to the question "Which problems?" That is, of course, exactly the right first
step. Asking hard questions can take your business into uncharted waters and make your
team a bit uncomfortable - if you're doing it right.
2) Next embrace change and dedicate your best people,
product, and service resources - to match up with the
problems your customers face today. Aligning your
business to solve customers' problems is the real key to
profitable growth.
I invite you to contact me and the other contributors
using the email links below or connect with us on
social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube
and Vimeo). We want to hear about the challenges you
are facing now. We'll get to work creating even more
solutions like the ones described in this newsletter.
Gary Muzzarelli
Editor - Marketing, ITW BCG NA
gmuzzarelli@itwbcg.com
Online Edition
