{"id":7128,"date":"2018-12-04T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T12:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatemasterlock.wpenginepowered.com\/key-characteristics-people-look-for-in-a-great-fencing-contractor-or-steel-fabricator\/"},"modified":"2018-12-04T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T12:28:00","slug":"key-characteristics-people-look-for-in-a-great-fencing-contractor-or-steel-fabricator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/key-characteristics-people-look-for-in-a-great-fencing-contractor-or-steel-fabricator\/","title":{"rendered":"Key characteristics people look for in a great fencing contractor or steel fabricator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Gate-fabrication-blog-image.jpg\" alt=\"fencing contractors and steel fabricators\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019re a growing company, you\u2019re undoubtedly constantly looking for new business.&nbsp; And the business is out there for fencing contractors and steel fabricators \u2013 but it rarely comes on a plate, so what do you need to do to put yourself over your competition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the key factors of winning new business is the impression you give your potential client and this goes for fencing contractors and steel fabricators too.&nbsp; If customers see you as a half-baked amateur with low work quality they\u2019ll go and find someone else to do their work.&nbsp; Simple as that.&nbsp; Your success is ultimately governed by your ability to offer and handle your project in a way that leaves your customer satisfied through every stage of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what is the secret to winning those clients?&nbsp; These 6 ideas might help you to focus on becoming the best in your field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Easily accessible information about your company<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this day and age, few people survive without a professional and easily-navigable website.&nbsp; Your website is ultimately going to be a large source of your traffic \u2013 and it\u2019s important that the customer can find out straight away what they need to know about your company.&nbsp; Your website should be clear with an easily accessible \u2018contact us\u2019 form and a prominent phone number.&nbsp; Social Media is also an ever-growing source of traffic and it\u2019s important that you have a presence on these platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Your experience<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s probably your experience that in construction related projects a large percentage of people are led by referrals.&nbsp; You can\u2019t always influence word of mouth referrals, but you can collect testimonials \u2013 and this is one of the most powerful ways of converting.&nbsp; These testimonials should be prominent on your website,&nbsp;<em>with a real client name \u2013&nbsp;<\/em>and even a photo and contact details of the client if possible.&nbsp; People won\u2019t take any notice of a testimonial unless they\u2019re convinced it\u2019s genuine.&nbsp; And while we\u2019re on the subject, it\u2019s&nbsp;<em>essential<\/em>&nbsp;that you show off your work especially for fencing contractors and steel fabricators.&nbsp; If you don\u2019t already have a project gallery on your website of previous work, this should be your next action point.&nbsp; If people can physically see your work they\u2019re going to have far more confidence that you are reliable and a \u2018real\u2019 company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A quality product and service<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is key to customer satisfaction and customer retention.&nbsp; No-one wants a fence that blows down or steel gates that fall off.&nbsp; Not everyone can be the highest quality in the market \u2013 but your client wants to know that you\u2019re offering them something that is going to last.&nbsp; Whether you\u2019re making your products or buying them from elsewhere, quality is something that everyone appreciates and people will keep referring as long as you provide them with the quality they need.&nbsp; As Benjamin Franklin once said \u2013&nbsp;<em>\u201cThe bitterness of<\/em>&nbsp;<em>poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low<\/em>&nbsp;<em>price has been forgotten.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Price<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<strong>price<\/strong>&nbsp;of your products is obviously a large deciding factor and many jobs are lost and won through price.&nbsp; Pricing up a job is always a minefield and needs to be thought through carefully for fencing contractors and steel fabricators too.&nbsp; What some experts say though, is that&nbsp;<em>you can\u2019t build a sustainable business by being the cheapest in the market<\/em>.&nbsp; Customers will often say that they want the cheapest price \u2013 but more than often there is some other underlying factor which will sway them when coming to their decision.&nbsp; Without reasonable profit margins you won\u2019t grow your business to the level you want \u2013 so remember that customers will often pay more for someone who offers them a great service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Time-bound<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How long do you take to complete a job?&nbsp; If you\u2019re manufacturing an ornamental set of steel gates and give the customer a 6 month lead time they\u2019re going to think twice.&nbsp; Same with fencing contractors.&nbsp; Find out what time limit the customer is putting on the job and make sure you can deliver it.&nbsp; Not everyone needs things done in a rush but it\u2019s essential that you find out when they want to start and finish the job.&nbsp; If they want a project started in 2 months time and you tell them you can do it in 4 months time, they\u2019ll go on to the next person.&nbsp; It\u2019s not always realistic, but fit their schedule around yours where possible \u2013 even if it is a pain in the neck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Helpful customer service<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The customer wants to know that you\u2019ll respond quickly to questions or queries \u2013 there\u2019s nothing more frustrating than not knowing what\u2019s going on and not being able to contact your contractor.&nbsp; Make sure there\u2019s always someone to answer phones or give them your personal mobile number.&nbsp; And&nbsp;<em>responding quickly to new enquiries<\/em>&nbsp;is also key \u2013 it\u2019s more than likely that the client has asked other companies other than yourself, so make sure that you get the quote to them as fast as possible.&nbsp; If you\u2019re slack in responding to enquiries it may well put them off using your company entirely!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your business is a large part of your life and everyone wants to be successful.&nbsp; Make sure you look at your company to see that you\u2019re offering your customer the best service with the resources you have \u2013 or enhance your systems and staff to attract and retain your clients \u2013 the life-blood of your business!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re a growing company, you\u2019re undoubtedly constantly looking for new business.&nbsp; And the business is out there for fencing contractors and steel fabricators \u2013 but it rarely comes on a plate, so what do you need to do to put yourself over your competition? One of the key factors of winning new business is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en-au"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatemasterlocks.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}