A friend of mine recently told me a terrific story about a meeting he had with another equipment owner. Not terrific in that this guy's business is worse off than he knows. However, this is a sensational example of why most equipment owners and managers are not bothering to pick up on huge opportunities lying at their feet. Opportunities that with the tiniest bit of initiative, would result in monumental leaps in net income.
First, the story…
“My good friend is a young entrepreneur who had opened his own contracting business. This young man had started the business several years ago with the dream of owning a profitable business where he could ‘call the shots’ and operate it the way a contractor is supposed to be operated. But, fast forward several years and this contractor is still struggling to pay the rent.”
He was frustrated and shared his misery with my friend. “I don’t get it. I offer a much better, more personalized service for my clients. Just try to get the kind of personalized attention I give, at one of those other contractors! I’m really starting to hate this business.”
My friend said, “You know, I know I should raise my rates. But there is always someone out there who is willing to take the work for less. I cannot change my prices.”
Yes, this is a true story and I’m sure you can already see what’s happening here. Yet it begs the question, are YOU overlooking niche markets and opportunities that, right now, are lying at your feet just begging to be realized?
I would ask this equipment owner several questions if I could.
When are you going to stop allowing your competitors to tell you what you have to charge? They don’t know your business or expenses. I doubt they know their own costs. So...., how long are you going to let them tell you what you have to charge?
When are you going to stop allowing your clients to tell you what you have to charge? They don’t know your business or expenses. They think you are making a 50% profit margin! So clearly show a client WHY you charge, what you charge. You need to take a detailed computer print-out of your exact machine or truck cost and demonstrate why you charge what you charge. Your competitor is not going to do this. Many clients want reliable service with machines that don’t break down. They want to know that you are not going to come back and ask for more money due to poor estimation of costs or un-substantiated change order requests.
When are going to realize that you will never win every bid or tender? If you are going to loose business – loose on all the bids or tenders on which you cannot make money. Many contractors loose 3 out of 4 bids. Let me show you how you can actually raise that number and make MORE money.
When are you going to start to accurately cost your machines and trucks? You know labor and material costs for the bid or tender you submit. If diesel fuel just went up $0 .12 cents a gallon, how did you immediately change what you have to charge on each machine starting TODAY? We can show you how to do this.
One of the most important lessons I learned was about the importance of mindset and belief systems. Ask anyone why they are not achieving a goal or result that they want – can be anything. Money. Weight loss. Time off. Pick one.
Instantly, they’ll tell you their story…
“Well, I can’t do costing right now because I want to have a life -- and if we do costing, I’ll end up getting more clients and have to work 70-80 hours a week…and I just don’t want to do that.”
Here’s another popular one: “I’m just too busy to do cost my equipment and track its fuel and utilization.” The truth? They have themselves convinced that they HATE paperwork, they’re not good at it, and therefore they make sure they are “too busy” to spend any time on it.
It’s an excuse.
Machine and truck costing does not get done by people with nothing else to do. It’s forced into the schedule. You have to know your cost. Unless you are making a 50% mark-up on work, you better know your machine cost, exactly. Besides, machine costing is not just about data and software, it’s about strategy work. It’s about finding the answer to the question, “How can I double my revenue while reducing the number of hours I work in the business?”
Our goal is to implement a system that once in place, you can know the cost, utilization and fuel consumption for any machine, or truck, under any operating condition or project work task. This system, will tell you exactly what your cost is in 2 minutes or less!
But no one ever seeks answers to THAT riddle because they have themselves completely convinced that it’s not possible. Second reason: they stay “too busy” in their daily habits of doing the work instead of taking time to look up from the hole they’re digging to make sure they’re digging in the right spot.
Challenge someone on this and they will get down right nasty defending their belief. “What do YOU know? You don’t have to deal with the same clients/situation/family/employee issues that I have to deal with! Easy for you to say because you have the advantage of being in a different city/business/client base/family…”
Are you getting the picture? Could YOUR inner Asset Manager be hibernating? Could you be overlooking HUGE opportunities to gain more freedom, money, and easy success?
What’s YOUR story?
Now, a more important question…
Are you courageous enough to quiet your ego and start findings ways to make more money, attract a better quality of client, command outrageous fees, all while taking more time off?
If yes – and you can handle the heat – call me at 941-926-9260 ext.104. If I am on the phone or tied up, I will return your call. Be sure to leave me your cell phone number in case its more than five minutes until I can return the call.
Dan Rooks
President
Decisive Systems, Inc. "The Owning and Operating Cost People"
In the U.S. Call 800-232-5767
International 941-926-9260
drooks@decisivecost.com
http://www.decisivecost.com/
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1 comment:
After attending the presentation by Dan Rooks, I can assure you that this is time well spent. This technology adopts a most logical, and a cost-effective approach. What an eye opener!
Thanks Decisive Systems.
Wm. Gallas
Construction Estimating
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