As important as professional relationships are in most industries, few require the kind of respect and trust that is required in construction. This is an industry where managing relationships is essential to the success of every project.
What makes relationship management particularly tricky is that there are so many different parties:
- Contractors
- Partners
- Suppliers
Since it is highly unlikely that you are only working with one of each, or even just one of any of them. You probably have at least three or four of these different categories, and in some cases probably more than a dozen.
You have to be able to rely on them to do their part. And you have to be able to work well so that you have a good collaborative relationship.
While you shouldn’t be trying to buy respect, cooperation, and loyalty, you can enhance and strengthen existing relationships with the right promotional products. There is something very affirming about a relationship when you feel that a product is good enough to share, and that is exactly what the right promotional products are.
You want the products to be both relevant and reliable. Here’s how you can foster great relationships with the help of the right promotional products.
Importance of Strong Relationships in Construction
Every part of a construction project requires that every other area be carried out successfully. When one aspect has issues or fails, it makes it virtually impossible to be successful overall.
The cascading effect from failure will at best require a lot of hustling and reworking the situation to ensure that the rest of the timeline isn’t compromised. At worst, it will completely upset the project, resulting in significant delays or cancellation.
While you want to work with the best to ensure you are successful, you must also make sure that the people you work with know you are reliable. A strong partnership with all of your contractors, partners, and vendors can not only improve your standing in the industry, but it can also result in more work.
With every successful project, you build trust with your network, and with people outside of the business. Given how difficult it can be to break into the industry or to market your services, establishing great relationships can be the best way to gain repeat business, while developing a great reputation with other people in the construction industry.
Selecting Appropriate Promotional Products
The right promotional products can be a way to help build trust. When a person or company finds the product to be particularly useful, they will see you as being more reliable and knowledgeable.
Selecting the most appropriate products can be tricky though.
- Industry-relevant Items – When you give someone the product, you want it to be relevant to the industry. When they use the item or tool, they will be reminded of you and how you gave it to them.
You want to focus on promotional products that will be useful for their job. This doesn’t have to be anything large; it could be something as simple as a hard hat, workwear, or tape measure. The more often they use the item, the more often they will think positively about you.
- Durability and Quality – Since you should be giving products that should be used often, you have to make sure they are quality products. Regular use means that the items must be durable so that they can withstand regular wear and tear.
This will help them to associate you with being reliable, reflecting how reliable you are. This will help to improve and enhance your brand’s perception in and around your area.
Personalising Gifts to Strengthen Bonds
Overtime, we tend to forget who gave us different items, especially if we use those items all of the time. That’s why restaurants and drink companies have easily identifiable designs for their logs – they are easily applied to cups, bags, and other items for carrying food and beverages.
This is the way you need to think about the promotional products you give to your professional relationships. You need to customise and personalise the products so that people easily remember who gave them that tool or equipment that they use all of the time.
The following are some of the different types of products that are perfect for customisation:
- Safety gear, such as work shirts, hi-vis vests, and the sides of work goggles
- Tools, such as tape measures, T-squares, and levellers
- Digital items, such as useful apps and project management software
You want to select something that is related to what you do, that way they are more likely to think of you when they need your services.
Strategic Distribution of Promotional Products
Sometimes you want to come out of the gate with high quality promotional products because it helps to get your company’s name out there. Other times, you want to be more calculated in your approach.
The following are the best ways to effectively distribute promotional products:
- Events – These are the times that most people consider as being the most common when it comes to promotional products. You can give out items when you have employees who attend different events to help get your name out there. Leverage events like trade shows and conferences to network, and then to remind people of your business with high quality products.
- Milestones – Since most aspects of construction aren’t involved for the entire project, providing promotional products at relevant milestones to your business can ensure that people associate your business with the successful completion of milestones.
- Recognition and Loyalty – When you have had a partnership or great working relationship for a while, consider offering them better promotional products. These items can be a bit more expensive and exclusive, but they should also still be products that can be used often.
Evaluating the ROI of Promotional Products
You need to establish a good balance between the cost and the return on your investment in those products. Better quality products cost more, so you have to make sure that the products you have customised aren’t going to be too costly.
To make sure you are getting your money’s worth, here are some metrics you can track
- Repeat business
- Improvements in relationships and teamwork
- Increased recommendations
Final Thoughts
Promotional products are not the lynchpin when it comes to establishing good relationships within the construction industry, but they can help foster stronger relationships.
Just like a well-chosen gift can help boost your relationships in your personal life, a few good promotional products can convey respect and appreciation toward your professional relationships.
