The Garrison Reports are written in an effort to provide value to the construction industry. Feel free to reproduce any of the Garrison Reports in your publications. These reports focus on leadership, marketing, strategic alliances, management and project management skills. My only requirement is that you include the following byline:
Ted's philosophy centers on collaboration between all stakeholders in order to increase the value for all the stakeholders. Collaboration for all stakeholder's benefit is essential because unless all stakeholders benefit they have no insentive to contribute to the project's success.
The Garrison Reports - 2008 (The Report on Strategic Thinking) |
| The Garrison Report #2008-1: 2008: Predictions for the New Year-Are You Prepared for 2008’s Changes? |
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Last year’s predictions were fairly accurate, but I must admit they weren’t very bold. This year I’m not going to predict a labor shortage because everyone already knows that. Instead I will stick my neck out to peer over the horizon at little further than most. |
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| The Garrison Report #2008-2: High-performing Contractors Take Greater Risk! |
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While the title is accurate, it’s also misleading because it goes in the face of conventional wisdom. Increasing the amount of risk that you are accountable for doesn’t mean that you increase your actual risk. In reality, the greatest risk on any project is unmanaged risk. |
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| The Garrison Report #2008-3: Quality Is Free! |
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Quality goes beyond bricks and mortar; it includes the services and the relationships among the contractor, the architect and the client. |
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| The Garrison Report #2008-4: Lessons from Dubai |
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For the past decade and half, Dubai has been growing at an incredible rate. But the question is this: How has it been able to accomplish that? The answer provides some valuable lessons for the United States. |
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| The Garrison Report #2008-5: Using Strategic Planning to Develop Company Executives |
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Strategic planning may be the most important exercise for a company to improve its performance and bottom line. While this is a pretty audacious statement, the facts support the claim. |
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| The Garrison Report #2008-6: Using Strategic Planning to Develop Company Executives— For Large Companies |
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For those contractors where it’s impractical to have everyone involved on the senior strategic planning committee, the solution is a multi-tiered process. This approach allows the contractor to involve all its managers and employees in developing the company strategy in a meaningful way yet not create an unwieldy process. |
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The Garrison Reports - 2007 (The Report on Strategic Thinking) |
| The Garrison Report #2007-1: Eliminate Your Corporate Overhead |
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The title was designed to catch your attention, but the discussion is probably not about what you expect. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-2: 2007 - Predictions for the New Year |
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Will 2007 be a better year in construction? Are you willing to bet on it?
Listen
to audio version here. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-3: 2007: The Psychology in Preparing Construction Bids
Part 1: Scarcity and the Low Bid |
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Contractors should be wary of the low-bid environment. Why? Professor Robert Cialdini
at Arizona State University reveals the answer...
Listen to audio version here. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-4: 2007: The Psychology in Preparing Construction Bids
Part 2: Use Scarcity to Your Benefit |
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If you take a project without sufficient profit, you can often do your company more harm than if you had just walked away. But how can the contractor use the principle of scarcity to its advantage?
Listen to audio version here. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-5: 2007: How to Differentiate Your Company from the Competition |
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Unfortunately, most companies don’t focus on what they should be doing; instead they focus only on how to do things. The problem with this approach is if you are working on the wrong things, it doesn’t matter how well you do them.
Listen to audio version here. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-6: The Future of the Construction Industry - How to Fix a Broken Industry - Part 1: The Need for Change |
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I realize that when I say the construction industry is broken, there are those who would argue. It’s true there are some good things, but overall the industry isn’t healthy.
Listen to audio version here. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-7: The Future of the Construction Industry - How to Fix a Broken Industry - Part 2: How the Contractors Must Change The Way They Deal With the Clients |
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For many contractors to prosper in the changing world, they will need a paradigm shift in their thinking. Instead of the mentality of “it’s us against them;” today’s contractors must not only learn to collaborate with their clients, but they must learn to protect their clients. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-8: The Future of the Construction Industry - How to Fix a Broken Industry - Part 3: How to Attract and Retain Workers in the Future |
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The construction industry needs a paradigm shift in the way it deals with the workforce. The industry must develop a pro-worker environment because nothing less will attract and retain the necessary workers. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-9: The Future of the Construction Industry - How to Fix a Broken Industry - Part 4: How to Increase Contractor Profitability |
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The past two reports discussed how the construction industry must adapt to the client’s and the workforce’s demands. This report explains how contractors must adapt to the changing construction environment. The problem for many contractors is they attempt to improve their financial situation by focusing solely on their company, but this actually takes them in the wrong direction. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-10: Is Your Company Management Approach
Poised to Destroy Your Company? |
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While the title may seem provocative, Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen advised that this is a question every CEO must ask. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-11: Relationships and High-Performance Construction Projects |
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High performance is not related to contractors’ taking clients out to play golf or to see a football game. In fact, Arizona State Professor Dean Kashiwagi argues that that type of relationship can actually be counterproductive. |
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| The Garrison Report #2007-12: The Year 2007 in Review |
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In 2007 there were many notable events within the construction industry, but two events impacted not only the U.S. construction industry, but the entire nation. The first was the figurative collapse of the housing market, and the second was the literal collapse of the I 35W bridge in Minneapolis. |
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The Garrison Reports - 2006 (The Report on Strategic Thinking) |
| The Garrison Report #2006-1: Why Your Company Needs Strategic Thinking! |
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Successful companies must address two important aspects of their business in order to be truly successful: namely, develop a sound business strategy and create outstanding operational procedures. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-2: Differentiate Your Business by Focusing on the Client |
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This approach creates a definite competitive advantage because most of your competition doesn’t do this. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-3: Differentiate Your Business:
Provide Value for Clients by Doing a Risk Analysis |
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This month’s issue focuses on performing a risk analysis on the particular project. The question is: Why? |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-4: Fire All Your Project Managers! |
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Learning the critical differences between project management/project managers vs. project leadership/project leaders. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-5: Turn Your Project Managers into Project Leaders |
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Where do we find or how do we create leaders? As the labor market continues to get more and more competitive, it’s going to become almost impossible to find available leaders. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-6: How to Increase Your Company’s Effectiveness and Efficiency |
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Potentially the most significant benefit for a contractor that’s involved in the Best Value concept is increased effectiveness and efficiency. This results in improved performance and increased profitability. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-7: How to Increase Your Company's Effectiveness and Efficiency-Part II |
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The last report explored how to establish the client's requirements and your own expectations of operational tasks. Now you are ready to measure them because without measurement there is no way to know if you are improving or even achieving your desired results. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-8: Is Your Schedule a Tool or Has It Become a Tourniquet? |
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For many project managers, the project schedule has become a tourniquet hindering their performance instead of a tool to improve their performance. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-9: A Time for Change |
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I’ve reported many times that the consensus within the construction industry is that conditions have deteriorated over at least the past 10 or 15 years. What’s needed is a turnaround. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-10: How to Reach Certainty -
(How to Avoid Problems in Quality) |
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When companies have reached certainty, they no longer expect problems to occur. In fact, they are almost astonished when they do occur. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-11: How to Deal With the Skilled Labor Shortage! |
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The suggestion that greater productivity is the solution probably raised a few eyebrows. Yet it is the answer, but to achieve that goal requires a paradigm shift in thinking. |
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| The Garrison Report #2006-12: Lean Construction versus Best Value! |
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Several newsletter subscribers have written expressing concern over the best value approach, namely because they felt threatened. Other subscribers have suggested that I should recommend lean construction instead. |
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The Garrison Reports - 2005 |
| The Garrison Report #2005-1: "A Needed Change Is Partnering - Part 2: Collaboration" |
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Collaboration is the key to greater profits, because greater profits can only occur when the stakeholders work together to increase the size of the pie. |
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| The Garrison Report-#2005-2:"A Need Change Is Partnering - Part 3: An Alternative Point of View: Best Value Procurement |
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Arizona State University Professor Dean T. Kashiwagi, Ph. D is an expert on Best Value Procurement and the author of the book, Best Value Procurement. This issue of the Garrison Report attempts to briefly describe Dr. Kashiwagi's views on this topic. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-3: "A Needed Change Is Partnering: Part 4: How Does the Best Value Approach Work?" |
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In the last issue the author explained why the high performing contractor should embrace Dr. Kashiwagi's Best Value Procurement. In this report the author will provide an overview of how the Best Value Procurement works. This explanation is based upon Dr. Kashiwagi's book, Best Value Procurement, attendance by the author at a three-day seminar and conference on the Best Value Procurement and several conversations with Dr. Kashiwagi. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-4: “A Needed Change is Partnering-Part 5: How Design-Build Contractors & Construction Managers Can Use the Best Value Approach to Create a Competitive Advantage for Their Company & Deliver Greater Value to the Customer |
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Recent issues of focused on the concept of Best Value Procurement .
In this issue the author explains how the design-build contractors and
construction managers can use the Best Value Procurement process to
select subcontractors to deliver great value and lower risk to owners, while
at the same creating a competitive advantage for themselves and the resulting increased profits." |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-5: "A Needed Change Is Partnering - Part 6: How to Evaluate Subcontractors to the Selection of the Best Valued Subcontractor" |
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Recent issues of focused on the concept of Best Value Procurement. In fact, last month focused on how the design-build contractors and contruction managers can implement this program. This month's report explains what is evaluated on subcontractors to determine which subcontractor delivers the best value. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-6: "Retainage - Should It Be Eliminated?" |
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Retainage is one of most volatile issues in the construction industry. Learn
why Best Value Procurement might be a better solution. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-7: "Retainage - Should It Be Eliminated? The Argument Rages On!" |
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Discussion of retainage issues from readers of the Garrison Report |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-8: "High Performance Is the Path for Successful Contractors!" |
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Exploring the meaning of "high performance" and the essential elements of quality to provide value and 'protection' for the client. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-9: "Panic is my Friend!" |
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This is an interesting report by guest author, Ron Black. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-10: "Why Strategic Planning Will Increase Your Profits" |
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This issue of The Garrison Report explains why strategic planning is essential to your business success and how it will improve your performance and profitability. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-11: "What Is Strategic Planning?" |
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Any effective strategic plan starts with the company's SWOT - this program explains how to develop yours. |
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| The Garrison Report #2005-12: Creating a Strategic Plan |
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The steps to building an effective strategic plan. |
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The Garrison Reports - 2004 |
| The Garrison Report #2004-1: "Making it Happen" |
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Execution is the key to getting things done - learn how to make your organization execution focused greater results. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-2: "The Construction Industry from the Psychologist's Couch! Part 1:" |
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In order to turn around the construction industry we first must eliminate the feelings of helplessness. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-3: "The Construction Industry from the Psychologist's Couch! Part 2:" |
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In order to turn around the construction industry we first must eliminate secrecy and blame. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-4: "We Need More Trust!" |
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The industry confrontation is the result of lack of trust - we need to learn to seek out stakeholders we can trust and work with them to create a new environment around our organization. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-5: "How to Increase Your Profit Margins" |
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If you want to increase your profit margins raise your fees, but to do that you must add value that the buyer of your services wants. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-6: "Techniques to Increase Your Profit Margins - Part 1" |
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The first technique is "Making the Client's Life Easier". |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-7: "Techniques to Increase Your Profit Margins - Part 2" |
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The second technique is "How to Provide Greater Responsiveness to the Client's Needs". |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-8: "Techniques to Increase Your Profit Margins - Part 3" |
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The third technique is "Take on the client's problems". |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-9: "Techniques to Increase Your Profit Margins - Part 4" |
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The fourth technique is "Empower the client through knowledge". |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-10: "Techniques to Increase Your Profit Margins - Part 5" |
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The fifth technique is "Manage the Client's Complexities" |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-11: "Time to Change" |
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If we want to solve the challenges facing the construction industry, then we need to change the way we do business. |
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| The Garrison Report #2004-12: "A Needed Change is Partnering - Part 1" |
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Partnering Between the Prime Contractor and the Owner |
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The Garrison Reports - 2002-2003 |
| Report #2002-9: "How to Increase Business in a Competitive Market" |
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Learn how to survive without lowering your prices. |
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| Report #2002-10: "How Do You Sell a Change Order?" |
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Customers are never happy about change orders, but find out what you can do make them an easier pill to swallow. |
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| Report #2002-11: "The Keys to Developing a Competitive Strategy - Part 1" |
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The first of the three options to developing a winning competitive business strategy: Low Cost Provider |
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| Report #2002-12: "The Keys to Developing a Competitive Strategy - Part 2" |
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The second of the three options to developing a winning competitive business strategy: Differentiation |
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| Report #2003-1: "The Keys to Developing a Competitive Strategy - Part 3" |
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The final option to developing a winning competitive business strategy. Niche Building |
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| Report #2003-2: "Another Look at Niche Building" |
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Niche building doesn't have to involve only building a single type of building in a single locale. |
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| Report #2003-3: "Improved Project Effectiveness" |
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It's not about how much you accomplish, but what you accomplish. |
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| Report #2003-4: "No Reverse Bidding" |
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Reverse Bidding, reverse auction bidding or internet bidding or whatever you want to call it has become very controversial. This report tells you how to explain to your client that it is not in their best interest to use this form of bidding. |
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| Report #2003-5: "A Refreshing Approach to Business" |
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As the construction industry continues to become more and more confrontational the quality of the final product suffers - the answer is working together to achieve better results - the heart of the Strategic Goal©. |
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| Report #2003-6: "A Partnering Strategy" |
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Most people realize the partnering would help, but the question is how do I find the right partners? This report tells you how to find the right partner. |
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| Reort #2003-7: "Are You Ready for the 21st Century?" |
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This report asks the reader if they are working on their business or they just merely an employee? |
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| Report #2003-8: "247 Reasons Why Contractors Must Change the Way They Deal with Their Employees! |
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Contractors must recognize they are in competition for the best talent and if they want to attract quality people they must create the right business environment. |
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| Report #2003-9: "A Great Myth: You Want to Be the Best Contractor!" |
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It is really not about being the best. Insteads about being the best fit by being different by delivering the customer's unique needs. |
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| Report #2003-10: "3 Marketing Tips for the Savvy Contractor!" |
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Three shorts: Don't cheapen your services in a slow economy, Know what kind of prospect you are chasing, and Develop a net return on every client. |
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| Report #2003-11: "Another Viewpoint About Not Cheapening Your Services in a Slow Economy" |
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This report starts with comments from a reader and includes Ted's response to that letter. |
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| Report #2003-12: "How GCs and Subs Can Add Greater Value to the Project!" |
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Cooperation by working together to provide the Owner a better product will benefit everyone. |
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