She said, “I’ve worked with their Facilities Director on several community projects over the years, and I’ve discussed our firm’s capabilities with him in the past, so we should have a good opportunity to show how our industrial group can shine on this assignment.”

“Well,” I said, “that’s great. I’ve never met these guys before. It’s always nice not to have to go from Ground Zero with a big project.” She smiled and at that moment the fellow in front of us handed over his non-disclosure agreement and got his “Guest” pass from the security officer. She was finally at the front of the line.

A tall man in an expensive camel-hair blazer stood behind the desk and held out his hand to her. “Hi, I’m John Doe, the Facilities Director here at Mega Corporation. I’m really pleased to welcome you to our Pre-Proposal Meeting. Please sign in and then sign our non-disclosure form.”

Suddenly his eyebrows narrowed, “Say, do I know you?”

She stuttered, “S-sure, John, I’m Jane Smith. We worked together on the Chamber Steering Committee, remember?”

“Ooh, yeah,” he said, tilting his head, “I guess that’s right. That was a few years ago, wasn’t it? And who is it you work for now?”

Welcome back to Ground Zero, Jane.

How often do you personally contact your prospects? Monthly? How often do you get a chance to personally see each of your clients when you are not working with them on a job? Once a month? Once a year? Not quite that often? If you are like most of us, you see your clients when you get the chance—that is, when you run into them at professional or organizational meetings, or at community events, or when you have direct business reasons to contact them. In other words, you need a commitment to invest your time in keeping up your network of client relationships. The business development portion of your Integrated Business and Marketing Plan should help you look ahead and arrange opportunities to nurture better relations with your clients and prospects.

The Personal Touch
The cornerstone in relationships that sell professional services is direct, personal, human contact. However, just as Willie Nelson sings, ain’t it funny how time slips away. We often allow ourselves to fall into that all-too-human trap of paying attention to what’s hot, and we don’t seem to make time for what’s not on the front burner. Time pressure, real or imagined, can overcome our best efforts to keep up relationships. Reminding our clients that we’re still out there, what we do, and how great we are to work with is essential to creating the visibility that sells our firm. Memory can be fleeting and fickle. We need to recharge our clients’ memory banks regularly lest they too, overcome with the demands of the latest new thing, forget about us.

The best way to overcome our natural tendency to ignore the immediate is to organize our business development efforts. Our planning should spur us to action, allowing us to make the greatest impact with the time available to keep up our relationships. Here are five good suggestions on relationship-building activities you can incorporate into your planning:

1. Love Letters
Nothing says you care like a personal note written, or at least hand signed, by you. Nothing. And if you think you can fake a real signature, you’re wrong. The next time you come across a timely magazine article or a table of useful data, don’t file it away or just circulate it around the office. Copy it and send it on to EVERYONE you know who could possibly benefit from it, along with a hand-signed note on your letterhead commending the item to their attention. In this ever-more digital, high-technology age, high touch is still prized. Ironically, you can and do delete e-mails with a flick of a button, but real, tangible, non-junk, personal mail is rare enough to catch people’s attention, and they will take the time to really look at it.

Are you uncomfortable with your handwriting? Go out to a specialty pen store and audition pens until you find one that makes you feel comfortable writing and then practice a little. Remember, it is not so much the style but the sentiment that counts.

Also, think about sending your clients notices about special events, or news, or the information on a professional seminar. Did you see a news article about a new breakthrough in medical diagnostic technology? Send a copy along with a personal note to every healthcare client you’ve ever even prospected. Did you see a client’s picture in the newspaper receiving an award? Then cut it out and send it along for their scrapbook with your personal congratulations. Do it today when it is fresh, and they’ll remember your thoughtfulness.

2. Dialing with Ducats
Many firms regularly buy season tickets for major sports leagues, concerts, trade shows, golf tournaments, and theatrical performances. Whether you know it or not, these tickets are widely coveted by clients. The schedules for events are generally available far in advance, and you have plenty of time to get organized and invite a round-robin of clients. This is a great excuse to call as many clients or prospects as you can and get an update on what’s happening with their firms and their lives while filling out your season’s dance card. Even if they can’t go, you have touched base with them and demonstrated your regard for the relationship.

However, remember that, if you just hand out the tickets, you’ve missed a major portion of the benefit. There is no better way to get extensive direct time to develop a relationship with your prospects or clients than to take them out to the ballpark, the theater, or the auditorium. Again, it is your personal involvement that builds your relationships.

3. The Project Postcard and the Postcard Campaign
Has your firm recently completed a great project? Why don’t you print up a 5-by-7-inch or larger color postcard with some professional photos braced by a description of that project and send it along with a hand-written salutation and signature to every single client and prospect on your list? You can even add a personal note in the white space to call their attention to something on the card that is particularly apropos of their situation. This is the cheapest and most effective way to remind your clients that you guys are doing great work, and it costs less than a dollar a pop, including postage.

No matter how allergic people may be to junk mail, they can’t help looking at an illustrated postcard, and they can’t help noticing that you actually went to the trouble of singling them out and personally signing it. Also, you can develop a series of postcards into a campaign around a business type or an institutional theme that allows you to get your firm’s name in front of prospects and clients in a positive light every month for as long as you like.

4. Helping Your Clients Help Others
Most companies have organized charity efforts that are sanctioned by their management. Check out which ones your clients participate in and then call them up and volunteer to help them with their commitment for a couple of hours on a weekday or Saturday. This is a relatively painless way not only to help your community and to meet and network with other volunteers but also to remind your clients what a great experience it is to work with you while flattering them by showing your commitment to helping them succeed on all levels.

5. Throw a Party and Invite Your Clients
Look at the upcoming professional seminars or trade shows happening in your industry or town in which a substantial portion of your firm’s client base should be interested. If it is a multi-day show or seminar, look for a time to have your firm stock a hospitality suite at the event’s hotel, make reservations, then personally call your clients who might be interested and invite them to stop by. As with the sports and theater tickets, you will get points simply for thinking of them, plus you will get information in your conversations that will help you get up to date and learn more about their businesses. Don’t forget to furnish your hospitality suite with high-quality boards that show your firm’s projects because these can act as first-rate conversation starters. And don’t forget not to stint on the refreshments.

If the seminar or trade show is being held at a convention facility or institution near your offices, instead of a hotel, you may want to hold a bash at your place and provide a limousine shuttling service from the venue to your office and later to clients’ hotels.

The linchpin of all these activities is that they spur you to think about your clients and to impose deadlines that move you to keep up those lifelines to your larger network. Incorporate them into your sales efforts and you can reap the rewards that come from being memorable and remembered.

	About the Authors Richard Cilley, CPSM, is CEO of Transcendent Consultants (www.transcendentconsultants.com), and Tom Boogher, CPSM, is Executive Vice President of Professional Service Industries, Inc. (www.psiusa.com). Richard and Tom have a combined 50-plus years of experience in marketing and sales within the A/E/C industry.
	Hosted by SMPS' Business Development Institute, this column provides tips, best practices, and suggestions on how to excel at sales and client development. Remember that nothing happens in business until you make a sale! The Business Development Institute is a Specific Interest Group of SMPS with the goal to promote, inform, and educate the A/E/C industry on the importance of sales and the necessity for business development best practices.
	Your comments, feedback, suggestions and questions are encouraged. Please drop either editor an e-mail with any input. You can reach Tom Boogher at tom.boogher@psiusa.com or Richard Cilley at rcc@transcendentconsultants.com.