REAL COMMUNICATIONS
Positive action creates a stronger business
Marty Murchison, of Murchison Homes, has focused on reviewing business processes and writing a book during lockdown.
Positive action creates a stronger business
For Marty Murchison of Murchison Homes, the lockdown period has created a golden opportunity to revise business plans, processes, and marketing materials, along with writing a book which provides an in-depth understanding of the building process.
On day one of the lockdown Marty dove straight into examining his business strategy by creating three cashflow plans based on different scenarios including continuing on the current pathway, a moderate downturn, and a worst-case scenario.
“These different scenarios were focused on different levels of sales and provide more certainty around operational costs. I work these out based on three-month blocks to give an accurate forecast looking ahead over three, six, and nine-month time periods for each scenario.”
Marty and his team carried out a comprehensive marketing review of all client documentation used throughout the building process to ensure that every item reflected their brand and values.
“To have a decent amount time to work on all the client-facing aspects of the business was a real gift. Instead of looking at it what I couldn’t do, I decided to turn it around and focus on the things that I could do and see the opportunities that we had to work on the marketing side of the business.”
Marty also created a suite of educational videos which provide useful information for those embarking on the building process. He will use these for future website updates and social media marketing.
“Everyone has their own preference when it comes to taking in material. I know I prefer to watch a video, but others in my team prefer to read an article so we created content which has something for everyone’s style of learning.”
Writing a book was another project that Marty had on his “to do” list. Over the lockdown period he finished writing “Building Enjoyment”; a step by step guide to help people through the construction process from start to finish.
“I’m not a writer myself so I narrated the content to my colleague, and he wrote it up for me. We’re in the process of printing it now and I hope it will become a handy guide that people can refer to throughout their building process.”
During level 3, Marty has had one trade team onsite each day to ensure social distancing rules are maintained and he was pleased to pass a random WorkSafe site audit with flying colours.
“It was a really good thing to have them onsite for a couple of days because we knew everything was up to the highest standard and it was good to have proof of this.”
Marty believes that while house sales will drop over the short term, his construction company will emerge stronger over the medium to long term as they are in an excellent position to ride out any downturn.
“The work that we’ve done on the business during lockdown on our systems and process will really pay off over the long-term. We’re lucky to be in a solid financial position to weather any economic downturn and come out the other side stronger than ever.”