How to find customers in the construction industry (the right ones, not time wasters)

Problem: the construction entrepreneur receives requests from customers who are only looking for the lowest price and do not recognise the value of their work.

Solution: stop being "one of the many" and build a clear positioning in your local area.

Result: customers who seek you out for what you are capable of doing, not for how much you cost. And the freedom to choose who you work with.

"There's no shortage of customers. There's a shortage of good ones."

It's a phrase I hear all the time. The diary is full, quotes go out every week, the phone rings. But in Northern Italy as in the South the quality of the customers is a problem. People who ask for quotes and then disappear. People who compare 5 suppliers and choose the cheapest. People who change their minds three times and expect you to adapt every time.

The result? You work a lot, you earn a little, and you take home the stress of someone who runs from morning to night without ever feeling secure.

Why the wrong customers come straight to you

The answer is uncomfortable but simple: if you haven't given the market a reason to see you as different, to the customers you are interchangeable. And when you are interchangeable, the only criteria for choice is price.

It's not your fault. It's the way the industry works. The majority of people operating in the construction industry acquire customers through word of mouth or quote portals. Both bring volume, but neither positions you as the benchmark in the area. They position you as "one of the possible suppliers".

As long as you are one of the possible suppliers, the customer has the power. They decide the timescales, the prices, the conditions. And you chase them.

How much it costs to acquire a customer (and how many you lose)

Not all channels cost the same. And above all, not all bring the same type of customer.

Word of mouth seems free, but it isn't. It depends on the goodwill of others, you can't control it and it doesn't scale. Portals put you in direct competition with 4-5 other suppliers, so the customer starts out with the idea of comparing prices.

Positioning yourself as a local benchmark costs time and a little bit of money every month. But the customer who comes from there has already decided they want you. They don't compare, they don't haggle over the price, they don't disappear after the quote.

Becoming the benchmark for the area

You don't need to become the biggest or the most famous. What is needed is that in your area, when a person needs the type of work you do, they think of you first.

This doesn't happen by chance. It happens when you do three things consistently.

1. Decide who you work for

Not all customers are right for you. And you are not right for all customers. Defining your ideal customer is not a theoretical exercise. It's a practical decision that changes the way you communicate, how you do quotes, where you look for work.

If you don't know where to start, think of your best customer from the last two years. The one who paid without a fuss, who let you work in peace, who recommended you to their friends. Try to understand who they are, where they found you, why they chose you. And then look for others like them.

2. Find your differentiator

"Quality and professionalism" is what everybody says. It's not a differentiator, it's the bare minimum. Your differentiating element is that thing you do (or that you are) that your competitors cannot say they do.

Some concrete examples:

• You carry out the work personally, you don't sub-contract it
• You have specialised in a specific type of work
• You guarantee certain delivery times with penalties
• You offer an after-sales service that others don't offer
• You have a documented and replicable working method

It doesn't have to be revolutionary. It needs to be true, specific and communicable.

3. Communicate it consistently

Once you know who your ideal customer is and what makes you different, you have to let people know. Not once, not with one brochure and that's it. Consistently.

This can mean different things depending on your area and your type of customer. For some, social media works. For others, the website. For yet others, newsletters, events, printed material on the job site. There is no magic formula. There is consistency.

From "one of the many" to benchmark: a real example

A window specialist with 8 employees in a northern province was producing 120 quotes a year. He closed about 25, almost all after exhausting price negotiations. The average value was 8000 € per project because the customers always dragged him down.

He did three things. He stopped responding to quote portals. He started publishing a post every week on social media showing his working method. He created a monthly newsletter for contacts who had asked for a quote but hadn't yet decided.

After 8 months the quotes were down to 75 a year. Less administrative work, less time wasted. But he was closing 35 of them, with the average value having risen to 14.000 € per project. Less running around, better margins, customers who chose him because they wanted him.

The turnover went from 300.000 € to 490.000 €. With fewer quotes and less stress.

BAU Agent

Automate your communication with BAU Agent

BAU Agent manages newsletters, follow-ups with contacts and testimonial collection automatically. You decide what to communicate, it sends it at the right time.

See how it works

Swiss
Made

BAU Agent

Day 3 follow-up sent

Client replied

Sequence paused

How much it costs to do nothing

Let's do some simple maths. Let's suppose you do 100 quotes a year with an average value of 10.000 €. If your closing rate is 20% and it could be 35% with better positioning, you are leaving 15 projects a year on the table.

With a 30% margin, that's 45.000 € of lost margin every year. Over three years that makes 135.000 €.

And that's without counting the time. Every quote you do and don't close costs you an average of 4-5 hours between the site survey, calculations, presentation and follow-up. Those 15 extra quotes you could close you are already doing, you're just losing them. Winning them back costs you no extra time. It just makes you earn more for the same amount of work.

The vicious circle and the virtuous circle

When you are "one of the many", you compete on price. When you compete on price, you make little margin. When you make little margin, you have no resources to invest in communication. And you remain "one of the many". It is a vicious circle.

The virtuous circle works the other way around. You communicate what makes you different. The right customers find you. They pay the price you ask because they understand the value. You make a good margin. You reinvest a part in communication. Other right customers arrive.

You don't need a huge budget to start. It takes a decision: stop running after everybody and start talking to the customers you really want.

Time is playing in your favour

This is not a result that arrives in a week. But every month you spend communicating clearly and consistently, you build something. After 6 months, people start to recognise you. After a year, they look for you. After two years, you are the benchmark.

Anyone expecting immediate results will be disappointed. Anyone with the patience to build will, after a while, find themselves in the position of choosing their customers instead of putting up with them.

If you want to understand where to start

Book 30 minutes with us. Together we will analyse how you are positioning yourself in your area and what you can do to attract better customers. No obligation, no costs.