Developing New Market Opportunities
By / Jordan Whitehouse Photos courtesy of The Waldinger Corporation About four years ago, Cleveland-based contractor T.H. Martin had its eye on an HVAC project at the new Highland Springs assisted living centre and hospital in Beachwood, Ohio. The job would be worth over a million dollars, and it would help T.H. Martin enter a new market it was itching to get a piece of. The only potential problem, says company President Tom Martin, Jr., was that they wouldn’t be able to secure it if they couldn’t negotiate a competitive labor rate with Local 33. Thankfully, everything worked out, as Martin and Local 33 Business Manager Mike Coleman had developed a strong working relationship over the years. “We would never have reached the number we needed if we didn’t have that relationship,” says Martin. And the result was not only a profitable final project and the employment of six to eight sheet metal workers over six months, but both T.H. Martin 8 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
and Local 33 had a clear example of the benefits of working together to target a new market. Successfully entering a new market isn’t just about relationship-building, of course. Economists and strategists generally agree that factors such as timing, scale relative to the competition, and the ability to leverage complimentary assets also play big parts. Even with all of these factors lined up, it’s believed that for every successful market entry, about four fail. In the signatory sheet metal industry, the best way to reduce risk is to have a strong relationship. “Anytime you venture into a new area or tackle a new market, you need to have your entire team onboard to make it successful, and our labor partners are a critical part of that team,” says Western Allied Mechanical CEO and SMACNA President Angie Simon.
