You can make more money. You can buy and sell more products. You can build more relationships. But you can’t replace time. As the American entrepreneur Jim Rohn said, time is the most valuable resource, because once it’s spent, you can’t get it back.
In recent years, time-strapped builders, contractors, and construction industry specifiers know this truth all too well.
They’re time-strapped because it’s a decade out from the Great Recession, and the construction industry still hasn’t replaced the ranks of workers it lost, even as the demand for new construction has returned to force.
While construction industry employment continues to grow, contractors still worry about the shortage of labor, industry surveys show. And worrying about labor is ultimately worrying about time: There aren’t enough workers to put in the hours it takes to get the work done.
It’s not surprising that the skilled labor shortage persists, having been documented for months by organizations like the U.S. Labor Bureau and the National Association of Homebuilders.
What may be surprising is, there are ways to help the construction industry make up for lost time. And that manufacturers can take the lead in helping contractors and specifiers deal with the shortage of labor and the shortage of time.
As an agency with deep roots in the construction sector, this is where Point To Point can help. We have the skills and methodology to highlight these growth opportunities. We also understand what it takes to engineer demand to in turn drive sales. Our focus is three-fold: acquiring greater insights about the hassles buyers face, developing creative messaging to engage these buyers, and implementing technology to reach the right people at the right times.
In these ways, manufacturers will build interest, attract followers, and increase engagement. And that means getting more products onto more job sites.
Whether it’s by introducing new products, debuting new services, or building new business relationships, manufacturers have the power to reduce friction and hassles. It might be as simple as offering added services to make buying, stocking and distributing building products easier and faster.
This is just one of many ideas. In the coming weeks we’ll share more through a series of posts on how building products brands can address the labor shortage and ways we can help.
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