There is one word that I can't stand - HUSTLE......

It seems to have become a massive buzz word in the world of leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs.

I firmly believe that if you set your team and your business up smartly and you have the right systems and processes in place - then you don't need to hustle. Your team is performing well, your clients love you and the work you do for them and your project pipeline is full.

But today I'm going to break my rule and talk about one area that does require an amount of hustle....

...and that is in the follow up!!

Most people think that a potential client will either love them or hate them after one coffee meeting. They think they'll either get work out of them straight away or it wasn’t meant to be.

But that’s absolute nonsense.

If you're a stats person (which most engineers are!) then the latest stats are that a new client will need on average 8 touch points from you before they will make a purchasing decision with you. 

Now for...

Today I want to talk to you about a concept that will allow you to confidently win more work. 

And it’s the concept of - adding value to your client’s world. 

This concept works in all areas of winning work, business development, client relationships as well as generating significantly more revenue from your existing client relationships. 

Whether you’re looking at a new client relationship, one that you haven’t done work with before or an existing client relationship, because you’d like to generate more revenue from your current client relationship - I want you to always ask yourself this question – “How can I add value to my client’s world?” 

If you can constantly and consistently be looking at your clients through the lens of – “what do they really need help with” and “what’s the value myself, my team and my business can bring to this client relationship” then you are well on your way to securing a new client or more work from your existing clients. 

Why? 

Because no one else ...

Hey! Hope you’re well. 

I’m having a lot of conversations with leaders and business owners in the engineering and construction industry at the moment around how to create amazing client relationships. 

There are a lot of amazing tools, strategies and techniques that you can employ into your team or your business to create amazing client relationships, but there’s one thing that trumps everything else and that’s what I want to explore with you today. 

I want you to think about business for yourself right now. Who do you enjoy doing business with? Who do you like hanging out with from a business point of view? Who would you quickly, readily and easily refer work to? 

Are your answers people that you like? Are your answers people that you share values with? Are your answers people that you enjoy being around? 

I guarantee that you answered yes to all of the above. 

One of the easiest ways to develop exceptional client relationships, and to ensure that your current client base contin...

So many consultants and contractors get caught up in pricing wars and feeling like they’ve got to be cheaper than everyone else. They feel like they’re going to lose the work or not be able to build a project pipeline if they raise their prices or are more expensive than their competitors.

Today I want to flip this viewpoint and this discussion on its head. 

I’ve been doing a lot of work recently with clients in my coaching programs around pricing, the value proposition and their positioning in the marketplace. 

You see if you get your positioning wrong in the marketplace, meaning that you've positioned yourself as a generalist, that you can do everything and that you’re all things to all people AND you don’t talk about the value that you add or how you solve your clients problems or how you deeply understand your clients world, then of course you have to be the cheapest!! 

But if you completely flipped this on its head and can change your thinking around your positioning and you s...

Do you always feel like you’re competing on price? 

Do you feel like you are always losing business to someone else because they are undercutting your fees and clients are just going with the cheapest price? 

The reality is that you are always going to be competing with everyone else and fighting for work based on fees and pricing if you don’t narrow down your focus. 

In today's video I will walk you through why it is SO important to have a “Niche” in the marketplace which allows you to position you, your team and your business strongly and not be a “Generalist” (cheap and all things to all people).

If you want to learn more, follow the link below to watch the video. 

Click Here  to watch now

PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now:

1. Join the Leaders In Engineering community designed specifically for engineering leaders and business owners
   It’s our new Facebook community where engineering leaders and business owners are learning the strategies and lead
...

Do you get excited about standing out from the crowd? 

Does your energy go up when you're thinking about strategies to positioning yourself, your team and your business apart from your competitors to win work and gain market share? 

Or does the thought of standing out make you uncomfortable? 

The reality is that you need to stand out to win more work! 

In today's video I explore why it’s so important for you to be seen by your potential future clients and the value that you could be adding to their world if they worked with you.

If you want to learn more on this topic, follow the link below to watch the video. 

Click Here  to watch now.

Josh ‘Stand Out’ Stone

PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now:

1. Join the Leaders In Engineering community designed specifically for engineering leaders and business owners
   It’s our new Facebook community where engineering leaders and business owners are learning the strategies and leadership skills to step up and thr
...

Wow! What a great webinar this week! 

It was great to see so many of you on the call.

A few of the key takeaways:

• LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to connect and engage with your Perfect Future Client and to generate fantastic opportunities if you leverage the platform correctly.
• The easiest way to grow your team and business is to invest heavily in your current client relationships ensuring you increase your repeat business and revenue.
• Your team and your business won't grow if you keep getting stuck in the 'doing' and the day-to-day. Look for ways to focus on the activities that actually move the needle and then delegate the rest.

If you weren’t able to make the webinar - here’s a copy of webinar recording. 

If you attended live you could even watch it again!

Click here to watch 

I’ll make this available until the end of the week. 

As I mentioned on the call, I am launching a new 10 Week Program next month which is designed to help you focus on wi...

In last week’s webinar - Your Best Year Yet - we explored the importance of confidently positioning yourself, your team or your business strongly in the marketplace to allow you to win more work and attract the best talent into your team or business. 

Click Here  to check out the webinar recording if you couldn't attend live.

There were a couple of statements that we explored with the group from a mindset and thought process point of view that are really important when it comes to elite level positioning. 

“It’s OK for me to put myself out there and be seen as an expert and a thought leader”

“It’s OK for me to position myself in the marketplace as ELITE – the best of the best” 

You see, one of the biggest blocks I see with leaders and business owners in the engineering and construction industry when it comes to positioning their team or business as elite, the best of the best, in their chosen field or area of expertise - is them! 

It's their own mind, their thoughts and their bel...

This week I ran a webinar called Clients By Christmas where we explored strategies to help win work and increase revenue by Christmas. 

I ran an interesting exercise towards the end of the webinar where I asked the group to tell me the first thing that came to mind in response to this statement: 

"Marketing, sales & business development is....."

The range of responses was SUPER interesting! Here's some:

• Hard
• Painful
• Enjoyable
• One of my KPI's
• Difficult 

You get the point. 

The really interesting thing for me was the differing range of responses with respect to such a critical and important element of running and growing a team or business. 

For those people whose default response was - enjoyable - take a guess at how they will apply themselves to marketing, sales & business development? You got it - Joy! Fun! Curiosity! 

For those people whose default response was - hard or painful or difficult - take a guess at how successful they will be when it comes to marketing, sal...

So many engineering leaders and business owners groan when you talk to them about winning work.

"It's really hard"

"It takes a lot of effort and most of the time doesn't pay off"

"Most of the potential customers I talk to already have their preferred engineer and they are just going to give the work to them regardless of what I say or do"....

...and this is absolutely true if you're approaching BD and winning work like everyone else - unfocused networking, boozy lunches, fighting for work based on being the cheapest etc. etc.

Today I want to talk to you about a strategy that has been absolutely amazing for my clients: Authority marketing. 

Authority marketing is where you are actively and consciously positioning yourself, your team and your business as a thought leader and a market leader in your chosen field.

You are constantly producing articles, marketing material, content for LinkedIn and other platforms as well as your email database where you are talking about your specifi...