Building a Clientèle

A hail storm rolls through town, and every roofer is busy. Busy bidding work, hoping to win some of the jobs, but not my customer. We'll call him Rick.

 Rick is busy to, making sure his crew is patching the roofs of the clients whose houses they refroofed the last time around. He isn't bidding, he has the jobs, and is already booked for a year, and gets a price that he can make money at. and oh by the way, he has had this same routine for the last ten years every time a hail storm hits. He works a normal week, and can easily take time off when he wants. He is successful by any measure including his own, and the gold standard for contractors in his market, with former employees starting there own companies, and a number of proteges in other trades. He can write his own ticket and is the definition of a pillar of the building community.
        
       To many building professionals that work directly with homeowners see their customers as a one and done relationship, Bid a job, win a job, complete the job, look for the next. This may be a great short term solution, but if you want to build a company rather than a job, building a clientèle is essential. A doctor, or lawyer would never dream of going from case to case, or disease to disease. My most successful contractor customers have spent lifetimes building a group or int he best cases a true community of clients, who don't shop their prices, don't ask for estimates, and simply call and have work done. This does not mean they simply bend over, it means they have a level of trust not found with other clients. This allows you to worry about profitability and quality, not just getting work.

      I am going to write more about this subject in the coming weeks, and hopefully will be interviewing a couple of contractors that have managed to do this for their business. If anyone has any experiences they want to share, please let me know.