“They don’t keep their promises,” the clients have said. “They don’t meet their schedules or budgets, and they communicate poorly.”

“But what about the quality of their deliverables?” I ask. “So what if the report comes in a little late and over budget. Doesn’t the quality make up for that?”

“How can I tell quality?” comes the reply from a typical client. “What counts to me is keeping you word and doing what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it.”

As it so happened, one of my Harley motorcycles had been acting up and I took it to my mechanic, Butch, for repair. “I’ll check it out and call you in about an hour,” he said.

Butch called 50 minutes later, told me what was wrong, and said it would cost about $375 to fix it. “Suppose I asked you to fix it for $300?” I asked. “Wouldn’t do it,” Butch said. “I do it right, and $375 is what it’s gonna cost.”

“Okay,” I said. “And when will it be ready?”

“Wednesday at four,” Butch said.

“What if I said I wanted it Tuesday by five?”

“I could try to get it done early, but you can count on Wednesday at four.”

I spoke to Mitch about my experience with Butch. “Why can’t all A/E/C firms do that…be like Butch?” I asked.

“I don’t know what it is,” he replied. “We get into that situation, and it’s like deer in the headlights, and our people react and respond in some strange ways.”

“Do your clients pressure you?”

“Sometimes, but usually the client just asks, ‘When can you get this done,’ and we feel this need to set an almost impossible deadline so we don’t lose the job or assignment.”

“What about your fee?”

“Same thing. We don’t like to talk about contingencies, how maybe something extra needs to be put aside in case we run into something unexpected.”

“And how often do you encounter the unexpected?”

“About 75-80% of the time.”

“So why don’t you tell your clients that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we think that, if we tell them, they won’t trust us or our firm.”

I saw Butch, my Harley mechanic, on Wednesday at four as scheduled, and sure enough, my motorcycle was ready. He’d also had it washed and the bugs cleaned off my windshield. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done any faster,” he said.

“That’s fine, Butch, just fine.” And then I went on to tell him about the schedule and budget problems that seem to plague some A/E/C firms and their mechanics (architects, engineers, environmental scientists, construction managers, etc.), and lead people to misconstrue their professionalism. “What’s their problem?” I asked.

“Darned if I know,” Butch replied.

“Well, then,” I asked, “what’s your secret? How do you do it?”

“Well,” Butch began, “there really ain’t nothin’ to it at all. I’ve been doin’ this for a while, so when you bring your bike in and I check it out, I get a pretty good feel for what it’s gonna need and the other work I got goin’ on, and I set a schedule I know I can meet. Now, I’ll always try to do better than that if I can, because that always comes as a pleasant surprise, givin’ the customer more than they bargained for.”

“Like having my Harley washed before you returned it to me.”

“Sure. It’s a sign of respect. Shows I appreciate you and your business.”

“And the same with money?”

“Of course. You gotta talk about money. I’m in business. Business is all about making money, and I ain’t no charity. And it ain’t nothin’ to be embarrassed about. I sure don’t want to tell you less than it’s gonna be, ’cause then you’ll think I was tryin’ to cheat you. I know what it’s going to cost to do the job right, and I keep you informed.”

“What about the unexpected? How do you handle that?”

“Well, you got two kinds of unexpecteds: your expected unexpecteds and your unexpected unexpecteds. The expected unexpecteds I can tell you about up front, and that accounts for 90% of the unexpecteds. The unexpected unexpecteds take you by surprise, and I always let you know that might happen, and if it does, I get on the phone and call you right away. I will never spend your money without your understanding and approval.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“From my daddy, I learned that. He told me, ‘Son, no matter what you decide to be in life, the one thing you always need to be, no matter what, is a man of your word. One of the best feelings in life is to be trusted, and if you’re not a man of your word, you’ll never get there. People, for the most part, have no idea at all of how you do what you do, but if you’re a man of your word, they’ll trust you to do it right for them.’”

“In other words, keep your promises.”

“That and being careful to only promise what you know you can deliver. If you can do better than that from time to time, people will love you for it. If you break promises, you just ain’t professional. And my momma gave me some good advice too about sayin’ thanks and makin’ sure the customer is happy. She said, ‘Butch make sure to be nice and say thanks to your customers and make sure they are satisfied with the work you do.’ You know, I follow up and call every client within three to five days of fixing their bike to see if everything is OK, and you know what, my clients appreciate that and return to me the next time they need a mechanic. Tom, tell your friends that business success is as simple as keepin’ your word and sayin’ thank you. At least that’s what works for me.”

“I promise I will.”

	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.