Indicator Of Economy and Your Success

by Charles Vander Kooi, ConcreteNetwork.Com Columnist

What exciting things the computer age has brought to this business! I am constantly at all the things which can now be done quickly and economically which just ten years ago were out of reach of most contractors. One of these things which a contractor we know has been doing has proven to be very beneficial to their forecasting and budgeting.

In a spreadsheet program like Lotus 1-2-3, he has been tracking the number of leads which come in each month by telephone. He then keeps trach of how many of these leads they are actually able to follow up on and turn into proposals. Finally, he keeps track of how many proposals (by salesperson) are actually contracted and completed within the given year.

All of this took some extra work on the part of his secretaries as well as himself, but when we sit down to look at his year and the year ahead, these reports help us better understand what is happening in his company. For instance, we found one salesperson who was taking a draw was not nearly as successful as another who was taking the same draw, so the owner could take appropriate action. We also know how many more leads needed to be generated to reach his new sales goal for the next year. Also, during the year, he has the ability to know when the salespeople are hitting below their average percentage of leads to proposals and proposals to contracts so discussions and changes can be made before its too late.

Seminars offered by Charles Vander Kooi
Estimating & Bidding Balancing Estimating, Job Costing, and Accounting People Management

Charles Vander Kooi Biography:

Charles Vander Kooi has been involved in the construction industry for over 30 years, thirteen as an upper-management employee of companies and seventeen as a consultant. He has bed over a billion dollars in work over his career. As a private consultant, he has helped over 1,200 companies in their estimating/bidding systems and has lectured to over 70,000 contracting people nationally and internationally.

Constantly in demand, Mr. Vander Kooi speaks at an average of 100 Trade Shows and Conventions annually, teaching his philosophy across the U.S., Canada and Australia. His company consults with an average of 100 clients annually to assist in improving their performance.

He has authored eight books to the industry and his seminars are available on audiocassettes as well as videos.

Vander Kooi and Associates, Inc.
Phone: 303.697.6467, Fax: 303.697.6815

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