Being a contractor is much like any other business. You have to strategize and compete for clients. At the same time, as with other businesses, contractors also face huge competition for projects. 

To make things easier, we have rounded up some proven tips to follow to grow your contracting business. 

Let’s get started:

Avoid Pipeline Creep

In order to stay manageable, you should review your opportunities in advance. Identify unwelcome targets and eliminate those quickly. 

Instead of going after every contract opportunity, it is good to track the best ones conservatively and cautiously. The most successful contractors follow strict and strategic contract selection criteria and stick to them.

Network

Whether you are new to the business or a seasoned contractor, it’s good to build and grow a network. Find alliance partners and teammates with whom you feel cultural and business compatibility. 

It’s a great way to find hidden profitable opportunities and exchange valuable business ideas. In fact, this should be the first step to get started in government contracting.

Assign Accountability

Most contractors hire capture managers, business development executives, proposal managers, and other professionals. But winning contractors always appoint contrarians. 

Contrarians make the proposal team ask questions, prove their points, and challenge conventional wisdom. They are not anti to the proposal team. They are only meant to help the proposal team realize their potential by pinpointing mistakes. 

Capture to Proposal Handoff

Suppose the capture manager understands the customer’s needs, visions, and price points. You have assigned a proposal manager, and the capture manager moves on. 

Furthermore, the proposal manager takes a new approach different from what is advised by the capture manager.

Stay Competitive 

Another excellent way to keep winning good contracts and grow your business is to stay relevant. Find the best-talented persons who continually upgrade their skills according to the industry’s latest trends. 

• Offer incentives to motivate your staff.
• Make efforts to keep your staff technically irrelevant.
• Maintain low overhead to succeed.
• Maintain a steady workforce. Try to provide continuity and excellence to gain a competitive advantage.

Some people believe that small contractors provide the best value due to their nimbleness and responsiveness as compared to larger companies. This is important to grow contracting business.

Understand Your Clients

Understanding your customers is the key to success. Most contractors solely focus on hiring polite and persuasive business development executives. While this is important, really successful contractors emphasize hiring good listeners. 

If you can stop bragging about the company and instead carefully listen to your customers, your chances of winning the contractor increase. 

Assess Your Internal Organization

Once you have set up the entire system and have best practices in place, the next step is to assess your company comprehensively. 

Ask the following questions: 

• Is your company stable financially? 
• Do you receive repeat sales? 
• Do you win client referrals? 
• How do your clients rate your services customer service? What is your employee turnover rate?

Make sure you understand the importance of the CPARS program and improve your performance accordingly.

Over to You 

Regardless of your business’s size, it always pays off to be prepared for efficiency and profitability. Be flexible, and don’t be afraid to stay small! So, try out these tips to grow contracting business.