109. I Made 1,500 Calls Into Construction. 83% Ghosted Me. Here's the Map That Fixed It.

One playbook. One quick win. One Growth Partner insight. Smarter growth. Bigger wins. Built for Soft FM.

🎧 This Week’s Growth Lab Podcast

Episode: Listen to The Growth Lab podcast archive - new season starts January 2026👇🏾

I made over 1,500 calls to construction firms in six weeks. 73% ghosted me. The reason? I’d been targeting the wrong departments.

At first, I blamed my pitch. My timing. My messaging.

Then I mapped the org charts and saw the pattern. I was targeting the wrong departments. Not wrong companies or sectors, but the wrong people inside them.

I was calling Project Managers on live sites: “Do you need waste services?” They’d say “send me a quote” — then nothing.

Turns out, Project Managers don’t buy waste services. They use them. By the time they’re on-site, Procurement had already purchased the waste package six months earlier.

So I rebuilt the map. I compiled the top 50 UK fit-out companies and mapped who actually controls the buying process.

What I found became the 5-3-3 Rule.

In property management or FM, there’s one buyer: the FM Director, Contracts Director or Head of Property Management.

You find them, pitch them, close or don’t.

Construction doesn’t work like that.

Get anyone wrong, and you’re ghosted.

Each has a different authority depending on the contractor's size.

At Tier 1 contractors (£500m+ revenue, 500+ staff), Procurement controls the front door. If you’re not on their supply chain portal, you don’t exist. Pre-construction and Project teams can only use approved suppliers. No exceptions.

At Tier 2 contractors (£100m-£499m, 200-500 staff), it’s a hybrid. Some organisations have Procurement teams, but most decisions are made in Pre-construction or Commercial. You can be added to the supplier list without formal approval — but only if you reach out to them before they start tendering.

At Tier 3 contractors (£10m-£100m revenue, 50-200 staff), there’s often no Procurement team. The Estimator or Project Manager selects suppliers based on their previous experience or the speed of their response.

Three reasons:

Every build is a new procurement cycle. Every site is a new decision. There’s no “renew the existing supplier” option.

Main contractors run on 5-6% margins. Every supplier decision impacts profitability. That’s why Commercial and Procurement are involved — waste isn’t operational, it’s financial.

In FM, if a cleaner doesn’t show up, you find another one. In construction, if waste piles up on-site, the project stops. You get fined. You miss deadlines. That’s why there are so many stakeholders — everyone’s covering their ass.

Understanding why these buying centres exist changes how you pitch to them.

You’re not selling waste services. You’re selling risk mitigation, margin protection, and timeline certainty.

Examples: ISG, McLaren, Overbury

Who controls it: Procurement Director, Supply Chain Director

Key influencer: Supply Chain Manager, Procurement Manager

How they buy: Centralised procurement via frameworks or tenders. Project Managers have zero discretion.

Entry point: Procurement team first. Get on the approved supplier list, then market to the Delivery teams.

Timeline: Frameworks reviewed annually or biannually. Live tenders are posted 2-4 months before the project starts.

I called a Project Manager at Overbury asking about waste services. He said: “Everything goes through Procurement. I can only use suppliers on our system.”

No relationship. No negotiation. Get approved first, or don’t bother.

Examples: BW: Workplace Experts, Unispace, Bouygues UK

Who controls it: Pre-Construction Director, Commercial Director

Key influencer: Pre-Construction Manager, Estimating Manager, Supply Chain Manager

How they buy: Mixed model. Some have Procurement teams; others handle supplier selection in Pre-construction or Commercial.

Entry point: Pre-construction or Commercial team. Sometimes Procurement (if they have one).

Timeline: Suppliers are typically engaged 1-3 months before the project start, often via email requests for quotes.

I spoke with a Project Manager at Unispace, a £150m Tier 2 contractor. He said, “We manage our own supply chain. Send me your rates and service area, and I’ll add you to our quote list.”

They had a procurement process, but the delivery team drove it—no formal tender. Prove you’re credible, and they’ll test you on the next job.

Here’s where most operators think it gets easier.

“Tier 3 is small, I can just call the owner directly.”

Wrong.

I spent 3 months chasing a £10m contractor in Manchester. Then I found out they’d been working with the same two waste suppliers for 8 years. No quotes. No tenders. Just: “Call Dave if we need you.”

Tier 3 isn’t easier. It’s relationship-locked. You’re not competing on price or service. You’re competing with trust built over a decade.

Examples: Clark Contracts, Osborne, Wynne Construction

Who controls it: Estimator, Project Manager, Owner/Director

Key influencer: Office Manager, Project Coordinator

How they buy: Relationship-driven. Stick to 2-3 preferred suppliers they’ve used for years.

Entry point: Direct to Estimator or Project Manager. Sometimes the Owner if it’s a smaller firm. But only if you reach them before they have suppliers.

Timeline: Decisions made weeks (not months) before project start. Responsive suppliers win.

Most FM operators target Project Managers first. They’re visible on LinkedIn and appear to control site decisions.

But:

The right sequence:

Tier 1: Procurement (get approved) → Pre-construction (get quoted) → Project (get selected)

Tier 2: Pre-construction or Commercial (get on quote list) → Project (get selected)

Tier 3: Estimator or PM (build relationship) → Get called when they need you

If you’re prospecting into construction and getting ghosted, ask:

Once I rebuilt our prospecting around the 5-3-3 Rule over 8 weeks, our connect rate jumped from 17% to 41%, and our ghosting rate dropped from 83% to 56%.

Not because we changed our service. Because we stopped pitching the wrong people.

Construction buying isn’t a one-person, one-decision process. It’s 5 departments, 3 tiers, and 3 different timelines.

Targeting Project Managers at Tier 1 contractors with no response? They can’t buy from you even if they wanted to.

Map the stakeholders. Target the right department. Time your outreach.

This is a Free/Core Issue. Access the free 1-page summary here.

The Growth Lab Pro subscribers also get the Construction Stakeholder Map PLUS bonus issues, monthly deep dives, and phase recap vaults you won’t find anywhere else.

I used to spend 15 minutes researching a company before calling. Reading case studies and recent news to craft the perfect opener.

Then I’d call the wrong person anyway.

Now I spend 5 minutes mapping their org chart before I pick up the phone. My connect rate went from 17% to 41% in 8 weeks.

Here’s the exact process:

Check their LinkedIn company page employee count:

This tells you who has authority before you waste time on the wrong department.

Use LinkedIn People search. Filter by company + these keywords:

Tier 1: “Procurement Director” OR “Supply Chain Director”

Tier 2: “Pre-Construction Director” OR “Commercial Director”

Tier 3: “Estimator” OR “Project Manager”

If you see 5+ people in Procurement at a Tier 1, it’s centralised — you must go through them.

If you see zero Procurement roles at a Tier 3, go straight to the Estimator.

Start with the Influencer if the Decision Maker has 10k+ connections. They get 50 pitches a week. Their team screens everything.

Scan recent posts or the About section for:

This shows you understand their priorities.

5 minutes mapping beats 15 minutes crafting the perfect pitch to the wrong person.

Do this before you dial, and you’ll stop getting: “You need to speak to Procurement.”

You’ll start getting: “Send me your rates. I’ll add you to our supplier list.”

That’s the difference.

One of our construction waste clients dropped from £27k/month to £9k in 8 weeks. £18k gone.

I expected we’d been undercut on price.

Instead, the Project Manager said, “You’re still good. But you’re not different anymore.”

In August, we responded to requests in 10-15 minutes. Same-day quotes. Same-day collections. We solved problems other carriers wouldn’t touch: food waste bins, awkward access, and last-minute site clearances.

As we stretched across other clients, our response time slipped to 2-4 hours. Still fast by industry standards. But not fast enough.

The Project Manager said: “When I need something same-day, I’m calling [Competitor] first now because I know they’ll pick up.”

We hadn’t lost on price. We’d lost on speed.

Site delays cost £500-£2,000/hour. When waste piles up, work stops. Project Managers get fined. Timelines slip. That’s why speed isn’t a feature — it’s the entire value proposition.

A 10-minute response time isn’t “great service.” It’s risk mitigation. A 2-hour response time isn’t “still good.” It’s a reason to switch suppliers.

4-ring call answering. 15-minute response SLA. Named account manager for every construction client.

Within 3 weeks, volume started recovering. We’re at £14k/month now, climbing back.

In competitive FM markets, your operational edge is your positioning. Lose the edge, and you become another quote in their inbox.

In construction, speed compounds into trust. Trust compounds into projects. And “industry standard” is another way of saying “replaceable.”

That’s it for today. Hope you can put this straight to work. Download this week’s 1-page summer here.

~ Matt

Download The Outbound Starter Kit (Housing Edition) — 13 ready-to-use templates for Soft FM operators who need to build pipeline fast.

Browse every playbook, script and tracker in one searchable library. Join The Growth Lab Pro and build your Soft FM growth toolkit.

Book a Growth Partner Call, and we’ll map the strategy, systems, and steps to scale your Soft FM business.

Forwarded this email?

Subscribe here:

💼 I share daily Soft FM growth insights on LinkedIn. Join 4,000+ leaders learning how to win more contracts. Connect here.

🐦 Want quick-hit tactics in real time? Follow me on X (@iam_mattharris) for daily sales lessons from the field. Follow here.

Thanks for subscribing to The Growth Lab.