Last year, I coached a General Contractor who built his business from the ground up. He started with handyman work, moved into residential kitchen & bath projects and now, felt ready to break into commercial contracts. He had the team, the tools and the experience to handle larger jobs, but wasn’t getting the work.   

The problem, he thought, was simple.  “I just need more social capital . . . If you could connect me with the big builders in Charlotte,” he told me, “I could get some traction.” And it’s true: knowing the right people is important. But when we examined his business more closely, something else stood out—no one knew him for the work he wanted to do. 

That’s where lots of growing businesses get stuck. You assume your experience speaks for itself, or that getting in front of the right person will make everything click. You know your capabilities. Decision makers don’t, and they don’t have time to connect the dots or piece your story together. 

In my client’s case, that disconnect showed up everywhere. Nothing in his positioning (website, Google or LinkedIn profile, capability statement etc.) said “commercial contractor”.  So, when buyers checked his company out, they saw where he’d been, not where he was going.  

That gap matters.  

Project managers, procurement officers and other buyers look at what’s out there and make decisions quickly. If your positioning needs to be explained, you’ve made it harder to choose you. Decision makers are scanning for a few things: what you do, relevant past performance, and whether your business can handle the work.  When things aren’t clear, they move on to whatever makes more sense. 

If you’re trying to move into bigger opportunities, step outside your own perspective: 

• When someone visits your company website or reads your proposal, what stands out?  

• What do other companies (who are already doing the work you want) emphasizing in their messaging? Are you positioning yourself as a peer, or coming across as smaller scale? 

• Check your capability statement, email signature, social profiles and website for consistency.  Are they telling the same story? 

Opportunities don’t always go to the most capable business. They go to the ones who make it easy to understand and trust what they do. If your positioning doesn’t say “I’m ready”, you’ll keep getting passed over.