Capabilities and expertise—your architecture or engineering firm has those tools you have in its kit bag. But, that is not all that your clients require—not if there is a hint of emotion in their decisions (and there is). They must trust you, and to a degree, like you.
A key path to business development success is to become a trusted advisor. To elevate your firm to that status, you must offer your client four things.
First is expertise. It used to be all you needed, now it is merely the price of admission. Clients can get expertise anywhere. They will be unimpressed with your BIM and CPM scheduling techniques, which are also commonplace. But of course, you must have the expertise they require (e.g., wastewater).
Next is empathy—the ability to think like your clients: to put yourself in their shoes and understand their needs. The first sentence of your proposal should effectively tell your client, “We get it,” be it the client’s challenge or dream for the project.
Third is authenticity. Here we are not talking about the firm’s integrity—that is presumed. We mean instead the sincerity surrounding the client relationship. An unfortunate side effect of making project managers (for example) responsible for business development is that the more nervous people are around business development, the more insincere they tend to be.
Rather than engaging with the client, the project manager offers a one-way diatribe, essentially a catalogue of the firm’s capabilities and projects. The PMs are not being authentically themselves—skilled AEC practitioners solving a client’s problem. Instead, they are focused on selling, and in most cases, don’t know how.
Finally, clients expect passion. This more nuanced quality is worth digging into with the following case in point:
A New York City official—who routinely handed out $100 million contracts, and participated in more than 100 firm interviews a year—was asked what she looked for in an AEC firm. She said:
I look in their eyes and I look for passion. I don’t listen to a word they say, because they all say the same thing anyway. I don’t care about their qualifications. I wouldn’t be interviewing them if they weren’t qualified.
Clients want to see that you passionately buy into them; that you see solving their problem as a sacred obligation.
A second kind of passion is for the project itself. Consider the case of two painters you hire to paint an historic property. To which of these statements would you respond?
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The manager of a trustworthy painting company says, “I can do it for $3,000, and I can have a crew here Tuesday.”
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A sole proprietor and practitioner says, “It’s rare that I get to paint a room with all these details. But, I won’t just paint over those antique cornices. I’ll strip them first, and I promise you, they’ll look like they’ve just had their first coat of paint. I can do that for $3,500.”
Yes, some budget-driven clients will go for the lower fee, reflexively. But, the second painter demonstrates a passion for the project, one that would win over any quality client. And, the firm is able to charge a value price. There comes a point at which people will say, “I wish I could afford them.” That is where their fee should be.
You know your firm, but do your clients really understand what makes your firm the low-risk choice? You know who your prospects are, but do they know who you are? You know who your competitors are, but is the only way to compete based on undercutting their fees? This is exactly what was at the front of our minds when we created The Ultimate AEC Business Development Manual. Here, you get must-use strategies that get results in virtually every facet of business development.
You also might be interested in these related posts:
Classic Mistakes: 3 Steps To Lose a Client
Client Service Strategy to Guarantee Repeat Clients