When every contractor looks the same, acts the same and operates the same way, there is only one factor for a client to base their decisions on when choosing who to work with: price.

But what that translates into is a race to the bottom—the contractor with the lowest price point wins. It decreases the value of your business to just dollar figures, even if you might have the best solution to offer for the job at hand.

If you want to separate yourself from your competition, you need to start winning on value, not price. Why should a client choose you? What technology do you use to put your business ahead? What pains, threats, and fears do you help them overcome? How do you communicate all of this?

In today’s market, you need to be able to answer these questions easily. The construction industry is growing, which is great news, but it’s bringing a lot more competition. Not only with new, specialized companies sprouting up, but with financially-backed competition moving in from other markets.

If you’re not sure where to start on winning your bids with value, here are four pieces of proven advice to get you started:

#1: Lock down your messaging and value propositions.

So the first question to answer is: why should a client choose you? No matter whether you’re putting together your bid, doing your elevator pitch or presenting to a client, the first step to take to answer this question effectively is to get your positioning and messaging locked down.

Your messaging is the framework for all of your communication. Everything. Right down to what you write on your website.

Here’s what it needs to answer:

1. What are your value propositions? (in other words, what makes your service better than your competition?)
2. What pain, challenges, or fears can you solve for your clients?

Take the time and really break down the answers to these questions. Make sure you have it right. Once you do, then you can begin to train your people—especially your client-facing employees—to speak and present your company in the most effective way. When you spend the time and effort to build strong and consistent messaging, you’ll get a huge return on your investment.

#2: Always make it about the client

If you’ve been in a contractor pitch presentation, you know how it usually goes. The presenter comes in, confident and ready to get started, and begins talking about themselves—how long they’ve been in the business, how many clients they have, why you should hire them.

That’s the wrong way to go about it.

While the presenter is wrapped up in how great they are, the decision maker across the table, they’ve got only one question on their mind: so what? That’s their job. They need to pick the best person for the project. The decision is in their hands, and if they screw up, it’s on them.

You need to treat decision makers like the hero, not yourself. When you become the hero, you automatically become a threat to their success. Strip down your presentation and put the spotlight on them. Don’t talk about yourself. Talk about the project their hiring you for. Dig deeper and show that you understand their pains, threats, and fears. Show how you operate and the technology you use will help bring immediate value, without any doubt. That’s how you build trust fast.

Once you do that, hook them in with a case study or story with how you’ve provided a similar solution in the past. People love a great story. After all that, then you introduce your business (yup, do it last).

The process should always start at the problem, then move its way up. Opposite to how most of your competition is doing it:

1. Speak exactly to their pains, threats, and fears.
2. Hook them with a great case study or story.
3. Earn your way to introducing your business (lead with your value props and how your operations stand apart).

Believe us, this will help you stand apart and win your next bid.

#3: Relationships retire, don’t depend on them.

As valuable as you think your relationships are, relationships can still move on. If you take them for granted, you’ll get lazy.

In today’s market, if your client doesn’t see the value of your service, they can go directly to the bottom and boot you out. The only way to effectively create a sustainable relationship is to constantly be selling your value propositions. Remind them why you’re the best person to solve their particular pains for every single project.

Think of your best relationship—an incumbent you’ve held for 10 or 15 years exclusively—then think about their problems and challenges that you solve. Remember, that’s what they’re paying you for.

#4: Use the technology built for today.

Here’s what a client doesn’t want: a contractor who is slow moving and bogged down by inefficiencies.

That’s why industry-leading contractors use industry-leading software. It’s that simple.

Your clients gain a lot of value when you take full advantage of the best construction site app. It cuts back the time spent on logistics and paperwork and leads to more time spent on getting the job done right. Overall, it’s a reduction of costs and effort across the board—helping build a sense of trust in your client that you will hit your promised deadlines. Implementing a leading construction tracking app gives confidence to the client, and increases communication within your team.

The importance of this, really, comes down to not only winning the first bid, but to building a long term relationship. As we mentioned, the first step to holding on to your relationships is to always be emphasizing your value props, but the second step is to show your clients that you’re always adapting and growing alongside the industry; that you’re an industry leader.

If you want to see how the industry-leading jobsite management software by SiteMax can give you that competitive edge, we’re happy to learn more about your needs and how we can help. Book a Demo and speak to one of our product experts today.

Start winning on your value, not on how low you can drop your price point.