FEATURED ON THIS EPISODE:

JOIN THE WAIT LIST FOR MY REVAMPED COURSE, THE DESIGNER’S EDGE

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE:

THE VALUE OF INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE THOUGHT OF

RELATIONSHIPS BUILT ON RESPECT, COMMUNICATION, AND TRANSPARENCY, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

BUILDING THESE RELATIONSHIPS IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST FILLING YOUR PIPELINE

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Industry partnerships are a critical piece to the success of your business. It really just does come down to that.

Hoping that a Google search will find you, that your current or past clients will have either more projects or have friends, family, or colleagues that they can refer you to is great. But having industry partnerships in the form of architects, contractors, and realtors, where you share the same demographics for your clients, is truly the game changer as well as keeping your pipeline filled with the types of projects that you want to be on.

Today I want to take a broader view on that which is the value of the industry partners with your own education inside the business. 

I am talking about the deep connections and incredible knowledge I have learned by working with industry partners.

I have learned valuable knowledge from all of my industry partners, but today I want to focus on contractors and how much knowledge I have learned over the years through working with insanely talented, incredible, kind, and giving contractors.

Some of you may not have had these experiences yet. I hear from designers all the time who tell me that contractors suck, or they’re mean or demeaning or downright rude. And yes, I have had contractor experiences in all of those categories but they are the minority and by no means the norm.

Today, I want to share with you about one contractor in particular, who sadly, is retiring.

Working with this gentleman, Bruce, for just under three years, truly proved my theory that when it is a well-oiled machine built on respect, communication, and transparency, anything is possible. 

Working alongside Bruce was possibly the greatest experience of my career. He was not only a gentleman, but he also had this enormous, vast amount of experience that he was more than happy to share. But he also wanted my input. He saw that I could stand on my own two feet, and I had ideas in areas that he didn’t and vice versa. 

Even though Bruce is retiring, he has told me to call in if I ever need anything. And that’s another part I want to share. After working on our first project together, I could call him for anything, and he called me for anything. That’s the kind of relationship we had established. 

I want each of you to find contractors like that. I do believe Bruce is a bit of a unicorn, but he’s not the only one out there. I think he became my unicorn because of the length, duration, and complexity of this one project. 

There are tons of contractors out there who absolutely respect us and look to us for guidance in areas they aren’t as comfortable in. Lean into those relationships. 

Because of that relationship with Bruce, presumably, he shared his opinions with the other guys in his company, I have gotten several referrals from the builder that Bruce works with.

Building these relationships isn’t just about filling your pipeline

It is about building knowledge, building resources, and respect, and building a collaborative team that takes a project to a whole other level. 

So while you’re building industry partners make sure you’re not just looking at them for marketing your services and filling your pipeline – yes, that is critical. But you also want to look inside those businesses and build those relationships with the people who will be on the ground with you, on the site with you, day in and day out, who can advocate for you to the owners of their company, and then you can have the best of both worlds, an incredible working experience as well as filling your pipeline based on the reputation that you have built with specific contractors.