Don't have time to chase leads for the bigger jobs

Oedo

Our business gets a disproportionately high number of quote requests and leads. These can range from small to big jobs. The small jobs tend to be the most straightforward and easiest to deal with. The bigger jobs can often be ones that require more research/analysis/communication, and obviously if they go ahead, more man hours to turn around.

I find the small jobs much more attractive to chase. Our offering is predefined, and the clients tend to be approaching us more exclusively than the bigger jobs, who are probably putting it out to tender to a bunch of different providers. Expectations are also lower for the small jobs, and the actual work is much easier.

Staff are easily trained to turn around the small jobs, whereas dealing with the big jobs requires a lot more skill and attention.

In many ways our business is more optimised to deal with a higher volume of small jobs rather than a low amount of big jobs. Nonetheless we still get the inquiries, and it seems wasteful to not pursue them. We're in the early stages, and not rolling in cash, so we tend to go with whatever we can get, but it's causing a bit of a vicious circle and I'd rather have a clear direction to work in.

We're not in a position to take on more staff to increase our capacity. I considered enlisting freelancers to pass work on to, but even doing so would still require a lot of project management and coordination, and once their fees are considered the margins wouldn't be brilliant.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated

pedronomix

It is a basic of good business to do what you do, well. You are early stage and need to get some scale to take on the bigger jobs. Getting it wrong could cause you longer term reputational damage. Keep your powder dry until you are well enough resourced to deliver to these larger customers/projects. Opportunities that are beyond your present capacity are like Porsches, very nice but no use if you dont have the wherewithal to acquire.... but a nice future target to keep in mind!

pedroeibar1

I agree with what Pedro eile has said but would push you a bit more…..:)
You are at a very interesting stage of your business growth. Handle the next step correctly and it will bring you up to the next level; get it wrong and it will bite you in the a$$.

Based on the information supplied you are good at high volume / low value jobs; you have the skill capabilities to handle larger projects but not the staff.
Is the staff / capital required the problem or is it the physical hassle of responding to the tender process? Are you ambitious or are you happy to drift along doing what you are comfortable with?

How do you price your jobs? Is it just you or are there others? How “mechanized” is the pricing process – i.e. have you an Excel model that can be used? How much capital have you available (reserves/borrowings) to fund an expansion?

In your position I would be considering two things (a) setting up a “Large Contracts Division” and (b) looking at using an outsourced service provider to calculate / cost the big jobs – India would be good. If you give them your pricing model, send them an email of the tender today they will be working on it tonight while you are in bed (time difference) and you will have it on your desk tomorrow. I would put a “strong” young person in charge of (a) above with a performance (profit) linked bonus/eventual share options and get them to run it initially under your guidance.

For the Indian side of things you need first to pre-screen the tenders – you would know what ones are interesting/do-able and what ones you are likely to obtain, as many firms are included just to tick the “we sent it out to four and X was best” box.

ishotjr2

have you considered freelancer.com, you meet some very talented folks there. I had projects that I could not handle, high risk/low investment, long shots and what surprised me was the problem was actaully me and how I dealt with oppurtunity, I am not suggesting that in your case, but have a look at freelancer.com might add another string to your bow.

SBG387

You have given a pretty clear picture of what your business is currently good at: Jobs of a certain scale that pay a certain level. You are good at it and it sounds like you win more than you lose.

As pedronomix said: Do what you do, (and do it) well.

You can't serve every customer. If you try to serve everyone, you end up serving no-one well and in the long run, this ain't a good picture.

If you earn enough profit from this work (only you know what is 'enough') and you are looking to maintain this level of business rather than take on the extra workload / hours / hassle of chasing other types of contract and growing your business to the next level, there is nothing wrong with this.

However.. If you think your existing work is not going to get your business to where you want it to be, or there is a good chance that someone else could come along and compete heavily for the work (e.g. by lowering price), then perhaps you should think about looking at these larger contracts. I like the suggestions already put forward by others.

One thing I interpret from your original post is that the leads for these bigger contracts are arriving in without you expecting them or without any prior groundwork on your behalf to drum up the interest from these leads. Have you found out why they are sending them to you? Where they got your details? If they really are landing in to you like this, are they just finding your name on Google?

If not, and they are sending them to you for a specific reason (e.g. they like what you did for client XYZ), dig a little deeper with them. Perhaps you are delivering significant value to your clients that they are seeing but you are not. If so, maybe winning these bigger contracts isn't as big a leap as you think it might be.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Oedo wrote: »

Our business gets a disproportionately high number of quote requests and leads. These can range from small to big jobs. The small jobs tend to be the most straightforward and easiest to deal with. The bigger jobs can often be ones that require more research/analysis/communication, and obviously if they go ahead, more man hours to turn around.

I find the small jobs much more attractive to chase. Our offering is predefined, and the clients tend to be approaching us more exclusively than the bigger jobs, who are probably putting it out to tender to a bunch of different providers. Expectations are also lower for the small jobs, and the actual work is much easier.

Staff are easily trained to turn around the small jobs, whereas dealing with the big jobs requires a lot more skill and attention.

In many ways our business is more optimised to deal with a higher volume of small jobs rather than a low amount of big jobs. Nonetheless we still get the inquiries, and it seems wasteful to not pursue them. We're in the early stages, and not rolling in cash, so we tend to go with whatever we can get, but it's causing a bit of a vicious circle and I'd rather have a clear direction to work in.

We're not in a position to take on more staff to increase our capacity. I considered enlisting freelancers to pass work on to, but even doing so would still require a lot of project management and coordination, and once their fees are considered the margins wouldn't be brilliant.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated

It sounds like you don't have the middle management type people you need between you and the staff in order to chase bigger jobs.

Maybe you can upskill your staff to handle the extra skill care attention and communication needed for the bigger roles.

Atomico

I'd form partnerships with bigger players who can take on big jobs, and come up with a referral fee arrangement that works for both parties.

Oedo

Many thanks for the replies here, plenty of suggestions and great to hear different ideas on how to approach these kinds of problems.

To update, since making the post I've happened to form a relationship with another company that specialise in these bigger types of projects. There'd be a collaborative approach with them taking on the bulk of the work. They have the talent and capacity to deliver and they're also happy to operate in a manner that serves my company quite well.

Until we can build up our own resources this is a good stop gap and it could very well open up its own opportunities in its own right.

pedroeibar1

Oedo wrote: »

Until we can build up our own resources this is a good stop gap and it could very well open up its own opportunities in its own right.

It’s called a ‘federal approach’ and works very when both bring specific identifiable skills to the relationship. Put key issues in writing, beware if they are unwilling to do so. Remember - (a) it is a stop-gap, and (b) if you are playing second fiddle it is difficult to grow to a bigger/better role. Unless there are clear definitions smaller partners get 'bent over' in situations like this.