Learn to be open with what your clients and insiders are telling you versus defensive about maintaining the status quo.
We have a big problem in the “AEC” business (and I still don’t care for that moniker!). And that is as a group of companies or “industry,” (I hear complaints from professionals every time I use that term), we cannot adequately empathize with the clients we serve. This inability to put ourselves in THEIR shoes hurts both our success in selling new work as well as how well we ultimately satisfy our clients when we do work for them.
Why do I say this? Just look at the marketing messages AEC firms put out versus what clients actually want. While it’s a huge generalization that doesn’t apply to ALL clients, MOST clients of firms in our business are mostly preoccupied with cost, schedule, responsiveness, and prior experience with other clients like them. We tend to talk about design, licenses and certifications, technical backgrounds, and the technologies we use, when these are not the things that really matter to most of our clients.
If any of this is striking a chord with you, I have a couple suggestions:
- Have some honest dialogue with your best repeat clients about what they actually think you do best and why they use you and what you could do better. Interview them with a set of questions. Do it face-to-face or over Zoom if that’s all you can manage. Listen, ask follow-up questions, and take notes. And then use this information as the foundation of all marketing messages going forward.
- Hire people who have managed design and construction in organizations similar to your targeted clients. They have real insight because they have been there on the inside. Their input to the marketing, selling, and project management of your work should be weighted most heavily of all of your people.
It’s been said a million times in a million different ways, but the bottom line is if you want different results than what you are getting now you are going to have to do things differently. Change comes hard for many of us. It seems risky. But my contention is not changing based on what you are learning is riskier. Learn to be open with what your clients and insiders are telling you versus defensive about maintaining the status quo, and my guess is you will be more successful!
Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
