Business Owner Toolbox Part 2: Make Your No.1 Priority Your No.1 Priority

Editor’s Note: This is the second in our 2007 series of The Business Owner Toolbox written by our regular columnist, George Hedley.  Each article is written to provide you with practical, immediately applicable business management tools to assist you on your path to building a successful, growing business. To read the previous article, click here. To read the next article in the series, click here.

Several years ago, I made a New Year’s resolution to take charge of my business life, put my priorities first and focus on building loyal customer relationships. I committed to:
– Work smarter, get organized and in-control
– Focus on the 20 percent that produces 80 percent of the results
– Delegate as much as possible to my employees
– Spend 33 percent of my time with customers
– Get home at a decent time!

When the next work day rolled around, I was excited to go to the office. I got to work at 6 A.M. and made a list of all the things I had to do. I prioritized these tasks into three categories:

1. “must do”

2. “should do”

3. “don’t have to do”

But at 8:30 A.M., I started to get calls, faxes and e-mails putting demands on my time-meetings, customer problems needing attention, project superintendents with problem subcontractors and a broken-down truck putting the concrete crew on hold. So, I went out and attempted to fix everyone else’s problems for them.

 

When I finally got back to the office at 4 P.M., I realized I had missed lunch and my desk was piled with at least twenty-five new requests, notes, faxes, invoices, call slips and files requiring my immediate attention-so much for getting to my priorities. Then my best customer called and asked me to play golf with him at his private country club the next morning. He wanted to introduce me to his banker and talk about his next project. How could I play golf? I didn’t have enough time in the day.

 

If you’re like most construction business owners or managers, this scenario is familiar. You have good intentions and want to change the way you operate everyday, but don’t.

– What’s on your “must do” list?

– What’s your top priority?

– What’s your No. 1 focus?

– What will make your company successful?

 
 

You Do What You Do!

People live their real priorities. Actions speak louder than words. A balanced and “on-purpose” business life is never built with unfulfilled, good intentions. It happens when the business owner or manager stays focused on what really matters to insure long-term success of the company. As you observe successful construction business owners who have their act together, think about the following:

 

    – What characteristics set them apart?
    – What do you admire about them?
    – What is their primary focus?
    – How do they spend their time?
    – Do they get to their priorities?
    – Why are they successful?
    – What do they do that you don’t?
    – What don’t they do that you do?

 

When you look at successful people, you find they are living their priorities. I have a very successful business friend I admire. He owns a major construction company. It is recognized repeatedly as the best in its marketplace. He makes lots of money and still has lots of time for his family, friends and customers. He surrounds himself with a top management team. His business is based on quality, loyal customer relationships and he makes customers his top business priority. I see him at the golf course weekly with a new foursome of well-known business executives. He hosts numerous customer trips to Alaska fishing spots, the Rose Bowl game, big sporting events and golfing outings annually. In addition, he takes several extended vacations with family, friends and plans romantic weekends alone with his wife on a regular basis. He is truly living his priorities, and his personal and business bottom-line is doing very well as a result.

 
 

Check Your Priority Scale!

Are you living your priorities? Or are you reacting to what you have to get done to keep your construction jobs running? When you put business pressures and everyone else first, you don’t have time for the important things that make you the most money and give you the greatest satisfaction in life. Continually ask yourself:

 

– Is this a good use of my money, my time or my life?

– Am I doing what I want to be doing?

– Am I living my priorities or someone else’s?

 

Take a look at where you spend your time versus where you want to spend it:

 

What I Do        vs.        What I Want to Do

–                                              –

–                                              –

–                                              –

–                                              –

 
 

Hard Work Won’t Make You Wealthy!

The more work you do, the less time you have for your priorities. As soon as you realize the reason for having employees is to get them to do what you want them to do, the sooner you’ll start getting your business to work for you.

 

What are your priorities this week? What will make you the most money and give you the greatest return over the long-haul? In my opinion, construction business owners make the most money when they spend 33 percent of their time building relationships with loyal customers and 33 percent of their time developing their management team. If you focus primarily on these two top priorities, you will have lots of time for the important things in your business and personal life. What will give you the greatest return-taking a loyal customer to the big football game or taking off the next job to bid?

 

Why is it so difficult to get to your priorities? You know what you should do. Make a decision to start living your priorities and putting your priorities first. When I first started my business our motto was: “Do a good job for the customer, and the money will come.” But I eventually realized when I always put customers first, I was putting myself last. How can you truly help your customers when your business is totally dependent on you, your employees can’t make a decision without asking you and you have no personal life? Complete this exercise to identify things that are going well in your business versus what needs to be changed:

 

 

Things We Do Well     vs.         Things We Should Change

–                                              –

–                                              –

–                                              –

–                                              –

 
 

Get Fed or Starve!

Several years ago, I discovered and wrote out my life purpose statement: “My life purpose is to help other people achieve their goals.” It’s awesome when you discover what turns you on in life and in your business. It keeps you focused and becomes a beacon to guide you toward what really matters in your life. For several years, I worked hard as a commercial general contractor helping others by building for them. But after fifteen years of constructing great projects for customers, I realized I was getting tired and worn out, and my personal priorities were being neglected.

 

I was giving my all in the service of others as I built my construction company. What was missing was the realization that I also needed to get what I want along the way. I had to make a change in how I conducted my business and lived my priorities. I sat down and rewrote my life purpose statement. My new and improved life purpose statement fulfils my needs now: “My life purpose is to help other people achieve their goals so that I can achieve mine!”

 

If you are not moving toward achieving your personal and business goals, how can you do the best for others? For example, if you work 100 hours every week to finish projects for customers, your personal life will be a mess. If you aren’t getting paid enough for the work you do, how can you make a profit, build your business and reach your financial goals? If you have to make all the decisions for your employees, how will you ever have enough time to enjoy the benefits of business ownership? If you let other people control your calendar, how will you decide what you want to do everyday?

 

To grow your business profitably, decide:

– What do you like to do?

– What excites you?

– What should your priorities be?

– What do you want to do?

– Where should you spend your time?

 

Successful business owners and managers do what they do best and hire great people to handle the rest. For example, most construction business owners are not good at managing people and making them accountable. To solve this dilemma, surround yourself with the best operations manager you can find and pay top dollar. Spend your time on what you do best: estimating, marketing, sales or customer relations.

 
 

Make the Tough Decision!

Be bold. Stand up for what you want. Do what you know you have to do.
 

•     Hire a key operations manager
•     Fire a troublesome employee
•     Fire a customer
•     Stop accepting excuses from key field employees
•     Stop making all the decisions for your staff
•     Put Friday afternoons in your calendar as personal time

 

What are your priorities? Are you living them? To stay focused on what will make the biggest difference in your business, step back and take a hard look. Analyze you current company strengths and weaknesses. List out the opportunities for improvement and the key success factors that will make it grow profitably the way you want it to. Consider all areas in your company, including:

– Customers

– Sales

– Marketing

– Employees

– Management

– Operations

– Systems

– Finances

 
 

The Top Two Business Priorities!

In my opinion, business is simple. The two most important priorities are to find customers and then keep customers. Finding customers includes: sales, marketing, estimating, presenting proposals, customer appreciation, schmoozing, networking and what you do to build loyal customer relationships. This area is often overlooked in construction businesses. Most construction company owners focus on bidding work and then doing it. As a top priority, finding customers can not be easily delegated. Customers want to know with whom they are doing business.

 

Keeping customers is all about doing a good job and meeting your customer’s expectations and contractual requirements. This top priority is an outcome of a well-organized and systemized operation led by a professional management team and well-trained employees. This area of your company can be managed by a professional management team who implements your business mission, philosophy, organizational systems and procedures. But, without great systems in place, delegating operational tasks is impossible.

 
 

Hire Pros to Grow!

The fastest way to get your company organized and focused on keeping customers is to hire the best, and give them the task of getting the work done. Great people do cost more money but take less time to manage than weaker ones. Plus, you’ll never be able to get your business to grow beyond the capacity of your top people. Why haven’t you hired management professionals to help grow your business? What position do you most need to fill?

    – Accounting manager
    – Operations manager
    – Chief estimator
    – General superintendent
    – Senior project manager
    – Office manager


I know you can’t afford it now, but when can you? Professionals will make you money. You can’t continue to do it all yourself. Sell your truck or backhoe, lease a used one, take the money and hire a professional to help you.

 
 

Put Your Priorities to Work!

Continually ask yourself if what you’re doing is a good use of your time, money, talent or life.

1. What would a perfect business look like to you?

2. What is your perfect business day, week, month or year?

3. What business activities do you find most rewarding?

4. What can you do to create more rewarding activities?

5. What can you do to move towards accomplishing these activities?

 

When you do things you shouldn’t be doing or don’t like doing, your business becomes a drag. Activities which are not rewarding drain your energy. Exciting tasks and activities which are included in your top priority list are rewarding and actually invigorate and give you more energy. When you are moving toward your goals, improving your business and seeing progress, you will get excited about your future. What is your No. 1 priority? Will you stay focused on it? Will you keep it at the top of your mind? Change how you do your business. Get what you want and adjust your calendar. Always remember that your No. 1 priority is to keep your No. 1 priority your No. 1 priority!”

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

George Hedley owns Hedley Construction and Hardhat Presentations. He is the author of The Business Success Blueprint Series available in eight workbook and audio CD sets. He is available to speak on his proven system to build profits, people, customers and wealth. Construction company owners are invited to attend his two-day “Profit-Builder Circle” boot camp held regularly. E-mail to receive a free copy of his book entitled Everything Contractors Know about Making a Profit, signup for his free management e-newsletter, visit his online bookstore or receive more information. Call 800.851.8553 or visit his website at http://www.hardhatpresentations.com/