The Greenferd Difference

In 2022, the “paradox of choice” phenomenon is alive and well. Consumers today have more choices and options than at any other time in history and, while this may present as a benefit to buyers (although this is certainly up for debate), this economic landscape is particularly challenging for businesses; specifically, sellers of both products and services. If consumers are constantly sifting through offers from competitor brands, what influences the purchase decision they make in the end? How can businesses remain competitive in a hyper-competitive landscape?

Now, more than ever before, it is essential for companies to identify – and then effectively advertise – a unique selling point (USP) that resonates with their target market to win the competition for buyers’ attention.

 At Greenferd we have spent a lot of time thinking about this challenge, constantly mulling over the question, “Why do consumers pick Greenferd?”. This is an interesting question to answer because, within the construction management industry, all companies are essentially offering the same service on paper. To this effect, the executives at Greenferd surveyed the competitive environment of the industry and realised that the spaces we build are first designed by an architect or designer; in other words, we do not dictate the look and feel of the final product. Moreover, the City of Toronto is blessed with an abundance of high-quality trades that all construction companies can utilise, so on-site production isn’t unique to any company like ours. In a sense, it’s a ‘tomato, tomahto’ kind of scenario, and the opportunity for companies like ours to stand out from the competition can often be whittled down to one, core element of business: our team. What differentiates our service from other providers is not necessarily the service itself, but the way we deliver that service while managing projects and our customers. The quality of the experience made possible by the quality of our team is what our customers are buying.

So, you might be wondering – what exactly makes our team so unique? First and foremost, we are incredibly selective when adding new members to our team.  Of course, we seek out construction knowledge and ability.  But beyond that baseline skillset, we also look for particular characteristics when selecting new team members. People who are asked to join our team must be:

Reliable: So we can trust that they are committed to delivering exacting standards and an unrivalled customer experience.

Accountable: To the team and to the commitments they make to ensure the project is a success.

Passionate: To love what they do and to do it well, personally & professionally.

Inquisitive: Always asking how things can be done better to improve the customer experience by delivering forward thinking and out of the box solutions to challenges.

Caring:  About themselves and about others. Make the world and the people around them better.

Our goal is to identify and develop people who have an aptitude for leadership, who can communicate well and can unite a team around a common objective.  We realise that we don’t just build an office space, we also build high-performance teams! 

Our team has a responsibility to not only lead the project, but seamlessly guide the client along to each milestone of the project timeline while ensuring that all project stakeholders have an unbeatable experience from start to finish.  We take this focus on experience very seriously, and we do all that we can to understand what a positive experience feels like for each, unique stakeholder (after all, everyone is different).   

We begin each project with a common goal and agreement: the project needs to be a “success” – but from there, we also collectively discuss (and agree on) what that success should look and feel like. To the design team, success may be defined by the finished product winning a prestigious industry award. To the end-user, success may be defined by getting moved in by a particular date due to lease constraints, or it may be defined by managing/reducing costs because the schedule isn’t as critical.  The third-party project manager, on the other hand, may define success by the type and the frequency of progress reporting and communication.  Success is both dynamic and personal, and it must be clearly defined in order to be delivered reliably and consistently.

Once our team has a clear understanding of each stakeholder’s definition of success, they have the knowledge they need to lead the entire team, to focus everyone’s efforts, and to ensure an unbeatable project experience for everyone. If you ask us, that is the Greenferd Difference.