I had a new home builder colleague call me the other day needing another female builder to talk to about an issue she was having. She tells me that contractors are not keeping their word.
Frustrated, she wants to set the record straight but her friends and family are telling her that she might be too rough. Her friends and family are not in the construction business.
Okay. If you are a wife and mother with small children, and you’re operating a home building business in particular, you need to toughen up.
Here’s why.
You have a customer that has high expectations of you and whose demands you need to meet, and preferably exceed.
So, how should you handle challenges with contractors? How do you toughen up as a professional woman?
Here are a few tips that work for any business:
You have no time to be babysitting contractors that will not respond within the reasonable time frame that they have committed. If they will not return your phone calls or emails, hire someone else.
Be specific with your requests and reiterate what they say, example, “Great! I look forward to hearing back from you by…” If they don’t meet that, make sure you give them a call or send them an email and state your concern.
Set the record straight. For example, in the home building industry, you need to have detailed requirements including cleaning expectations. Clean job sites are very important in construction. Clarify your cleaning guidelines and what would be the consequences if expectations are not met.
Customize your expectations and requirements to your business needs or tasks that you’re outsourcing. The more details you provide, the better.
It is important to build good relationships with contractors. Those who do their job well, go the extra mile to help you meet your goals to please the customer and are responsive, deserve respect, good treatment and why not a token of appreciation such as a lunch or gift card?
As with any business, building good and solid relationships is key to your success. You cannot do it alone. But it is important to set the expectations beforehand so that all parties involved know what is expected of them and what are the details and deliverable.
Every business is a people business. And doing business with people, is all about building strong relationships with quality contractors.
As a professional, career or woman business owner, don’t let others disrespect you. Stick to your word and expectations you have set. Don’t budge. Of course there will be exceptions to the rules as we all sometimes face unexpected situations, and your contractors are not exempt from it – they’re still human.
But overall don’t be seen as “softie” because you’re female.
Business is business and you need to learn to be objective (which sometimes will require for you to put emotions aside and listen to your own guts) if you’re going to be successful.
How have you toughen up?
