Perception is Reality

The other day I met with an owner of a well known construction company here in New Orleans. We had a great conversation about how the company grew so fast and where the company was headed the next few years.

The owner admitted to me that the industry’s perception of the company did not always make the reality of the company. This marketing savvy owner understood the need to act larger than reality to obtain key jobs the company needed to grow. This is very common with marketing and I’m very proud to have one or two person clients that compete with the “big guys” because our expertise in design & marketing allowed them to appear larger.

Think about your company. How large or small are you in reality? Do your competitors think you’re larger than you really are or vice versa? Many companies fly under the radar by working on low profile jobs or within a certain niche industry. Then, one day this low profile company gets a high profile job and everyone is scratching their heads, asking, “Where did they come from?” (We’ve done this ourselves and its fun to surprise your competitors.)

When you’re a larger contractor, it can be hard to hide your true size because of rankings like ENR Top 400 Contractors and local business publication listings, but these numbers do not always reflect the truth. The truth can be hidden easily in construction because the rankings are usually listed by gross income which includes subcontractors’ fees and material costs. I’ve seen $200 million companies that only had 10-12 employees because the sub all of their work while some $50 million companies have hundreds of employees because they self perform their work.

What’s better, looking larger or smaller? Depends who you are and your competitors, but you should have a plan on how you want to appear to your competitors, prospects, and the community. Does perception match your company’s reality?