Relationships, marketing and rainmaking

You will find some simple truths in this blog posting, Rain Making by Deduction, from Ford Harding. His basic premise: Relationships are the key to rainmaking success, and successful relationship development (and maintenance) is found in both the quality and quantity of your relationships. He also asserts you can't build a relationship without personal contact.

For marketing, he writes:

Marketing Properties

1. The goal of marketing is to help you meet people and develop relationships with them (by giving you reasons to contact them).
2. Marketing efforts that don’t do one of these two things are probably not worth the investment.

Good advice, indeed.

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Branding and public bidding

You might be thinking: "This 'branding' stuff might be relevant if I am competing for work with residential clients or perhaps for non-public commercial work, but what does it have to do with conventional public sector advertised bidding opportunities?"

To some extent you are right. In the purest environment, where low price rules the space, it isn't about brand as much as it is your efficiencies in keeping costs so low that you can win the work, and still make a profit (hard to do.)

But things aren't always as they seem to be, and if you are one of dozens chasing public works, you should appreciate that in many cases the game is stacked against you from the start, and you can't even see it -- because your competitor has quietly won the branding war.

I've often cited an example of a Midwestern contractor who must obviously remain unidentified. His business consistently wins work at the local hospital, even though tendering rules there are always that the lowest bid must win the work. How does he do it? The contractor and hospital administration pre-arrange change order authorizations, so he can bid the work low and know that, with the change orders approved, he will still make a profit.

You may find the ethics of this story dubious; but there is nothing fishy about why this is happening. The hospital administration had been burned too many times by low bidders not completing work well, so they want to be sure that the contractor they really wish to win the work gets the opportunity.

If you are one of the many 'outsiders' thinking you can win by bidding low, do you stand a chance?

The gaming of "low bid wins" rules almost inevitably reflect two possibilities. The first is corruption -- someone is greasing some palms to restate the rules. The second is branding -- the successful contractor has built so much trust, and such positive relations and such a healthy brand, that the game is stacked from the start.

Assuming you don't want to get into bribery, if you aren't connected (with a great 'secret' brand with the public sector purchasing authority), you often can't get in, no matter how hard you try.

And where the competition is truly fair and open, and when the project size is small, the competition is likely to be so fierce that the low bidder will be working for minimum wage, if anything. In other words it is a victory that counts for little if you want to succeed in business.

In some cases, especially for design work in the public sector in the U.S., this favoritism is formalized legally through the Brooks Act provisions which mandate that experience and quality count more than price.

Are there any answers to this problem?

• First, you must be realistic. If you don't have a previously established relationship and some inside track knowledge of your likeliness of success, your chances of winning are remote. So focus your resources to where you have some relationships and a reasonable chance of success.

• Second, spend far more of your marketing time building these relationships than chasing bids once the opportunity is public. In other words, get to know the people who can authorize business with you if they are comfortable with your capacities. You may find value in joining and participating in associations relevant to your potential clients.

• Third, when you get your first job, live up to every possible standard of communication, quality, and service you can. Build your brand. Then the next time around things will be much easier.

• Finally, while proposal presentation is more the icing on the cake than the substance, consider carefully how you document and answer the RFP and tender calls. Of course, ensure you provide all information required to comply, and don't include any information not required which might cause problems. Then consider creative options including the effective use of photos, video clips (if the application is on-line), testimonials, references, and constructive suggestions to increase the project's success. If you believe you have a realistic chance, go all out and ensure your proposal is far better than the norm.

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The simple answer that raises more questions

Yesterday, I received this question from an offshore reader:

I will be most grateful if you can assist me with some ideas with regards to business development for an engineering consultancy service.

My brief, perhaps curt, answer:

I'm not really qualified to suggest ideas in your market although the basic principals outlined in various blog postings may be helpful.

You are going to need to build your business from your relationships; and if you don't have them, you will need to connect the dots and find your way to be near the people you want to do business with.

"Marketing" for consultancies is almost 99 per cent relationship-building and virtually any other resource you try will only work if that is at the root.

Trouble is, my answer didn't go far enough because it doesn't answer the question: "How do build relationships?" The simple answer is:

Join relevant associations (of individuals likely to be decision-makers within your market) and contribute your skills, passions, and time freely, wholeheartedly, and without any expectation of return.

You may scratch your head at this idea, especially if you need some fast cash to stay afloat or your boss is breathing down your back to meet your sales quota.

This question, of course, is from someone seeking to build a consultancy. Realistically, how can you expect to succeed unless you connect with potential clients in an environment where they can assess you safely, without feeling pressure to do anything?

They need to see you in action and need to both like you and feel you really can solve their problems.

Associations provide that link. Get involved.

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Real (virtual) communities

Within the Internet, I belong to a few real (virtual) communities.

The contradiction is ironic. The communities are virtual in that they are online and geographically diverse. They are real in that the relationships and networking effects are as strong if not stronger than conventional communities and association networks.

Many of the communities, of course, are related directly to this blog. Some are relevant to outside interests. Their common denominator is specialized focus.

Many have a degree of genuine exclusivity -- you can't get in unless you are invited, and in at least one or two cases, their websites are totally secret from the general public or even the average person interested in the topic.

From a marketing perspective, these online communities reflect the communities you find in the conventional world and have both strengths and limitations.

The numbers are (relatively) small
You won't find real communities with tens of thousands of members. You can't "buy reach" through conventional advertising and marketing, at least effectively.

You can build real relationships
In some cases, these reach the level of true friendship. You can understand and appreciate the individuality of each member.

They are enduring
While sometimes communities form through special circumstances and crises, they tend to last, even after the catalyst and justification for the community has long passed.

You can't barge in (but sometimes you can be accepted quickly)
Remember high school. Sometimes an out-of-town kid joins the class and is instantly accepted into the "in group", while another flounders, friendless. If you relate to the community's framework, and contribute rather than sell, you will often be welcomed quickly, but you generally can't gain acceptance if you are selfishly or insensitively pushy.

The biggest problem with these communities is your challenge of measuring time and effectiveness -- it can seem you are spending energy, effort, and resources without any return. The answer, of course, is to both participate in communities you genuinely enjoy, and are relevant to your market interests.

Then you can turn otherwise seemingly unproductive fun time into genuine business development opportunities. But you can't get there unless you want to be in the place.

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Brochures, websites or relationships: Which comes first?

Put me in a room of general contractors, sub trades, suppliers and others connected with the construction industry, and my natural inclination is to want to freeze or simply go to a quiet seat (alone) and either read or text on my blackberry. I'm a social wallflower. But I realize that I'm not going to get very far in business without connecting with individuals in associations and groups so struggled to learn the basics. My solution: Take pictures and write stuff. You may have a different answer to this type of weakness.

Consider this posting on contractortalk.com:

The commercial retail and general TI market has dried up here, so I was thinking of distributing brochures and e-mails to mortgage lenders and Realtors to try and tap into the bank repo market. So what do you think? Is this a dead horse.

My initial response to the posting:

The bank and repo market may not be dead, but I'm not sure how effective "distributing brochures and emails" will be in making inroads.

Relationships are vitally important here and cold inquiries using any form of mass communication will likely be ineffective. You need to be much more focused and targeted (especially with Realtors, as only a few are going to have the connections and business which matter to you.) This may be a case where picking up the phone or sending a highly personal email to the right person does a whole lot more than "marketing".

The response to my response:

Thanks for the info, I was going to use the brochure as an ice breaker. I probably should have my web page up and running so they have something to reference. I was going to do my marketing face to face.

And my most recent answer:

If you are going to do a brochure, you will need to spend money on good design and printing. Printing isn't too much of a problem, you can do an online thing and use high quality colour copiers to print as you need. Design can be another issue if you aren't familiar with how to get it done at low cost.

The problem is that the brochure isn't necessarily a great ice breaker. What is a good ice breaker is some useful information and ideas for the people you are trying to work with -- and that comes from understanding the type of information they need and want to help them be more successful in their work. Of course that expression can be some insights about what you do best. I suppose you can put this in a brochure, but websites and emails are much less expensive!

I'm all in favour of marketing but this is one where your relationships need to be built and brochures won't break the ice unless you truly are defying the odds.

However, another response actually is the best answer to the poster's original questions:

You have nothing to lose at this point. It's better to do something than sitting around waiting on the phone to ring.

Go for it

The person who posted this response, who works at "Change Development" in Houston, TX, is on the right track, though I was a little surprised when I visited the "Change Development" site not to see anything that clearly identified the owner; the person, the personality, the human(s) behind the business.

I dunno. We are not brochures. We are not "machine language". We are people.

My social skills and relationship-building abilities are notoriously poor. You can search for hard evidence confessing to my limitations in earlier blog postings (I even at one point, I think, posted the actual psychiatric diagnosis given to me by the experts as I fought to overcome the social skills weaknesses while in university.) But I learned -- the hard way, with lots of effort -- that I wouldn't get far in life if I didn't achieve at least a degree of functionality in these areas.

The cure for my social ineptness turned out to be a combination of hard work, practice, and the development of my strengths sufficient that these became my "ice breaker" to overcome my social weakness. Thankfully, I have the gifts of inquisitiveness, speed in research, and writing ability -- perfect for a career in journalism. (Of course social skills are vitally important in the journalism business, too, but I found it easier to overcome the fear of asking pointed questions of political figures next to me than to ask a woman on a date. But I persevered on the social skills front, and finally married the woman of my dreams at age 40.)

Now, you are also seeing the expression of a social skill in this posting -- I've just exposed my warts and weaknesses for all to see. This is somewhat deliberate. People are more comfortable working with and communicating with people who don't see or claim themselves as perfect in all areas -- but who they believe are really good at the area that matters for the relevant relationship.

So, I agree with the other poster on this thread, that the original poster should "go for it". And it won't hurt at all to have a good website, and some materials to show. But the marketing challenge is more accurately to determine the group of people who can actually use and recommend your service, and then to find ways to build out relationships and connections to them first. And you'll be much more successful if you do that by calling people you know who can help you make the relevant introductions and connections, rather than worrying about your brochure.

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Relationship vs transactional seling

Mel Lester makes some important points in his most recent E-Quip Blog posting:

In a weak economy, the pressure to follow a transactional approach increases. The need is to increase sales, quickly. So naturally we turn our attention to looking for near-term proposal opportunities. Isn't that the quickest way to bring in new work?

Unfortunately not. Writing proposals without investing in the up-front relationship building rarely produces success. Only the illusion that we're being productive. A better expenditure of that time would be to devote it to developing relationships that position us for winning proposals.

The evidence supporting a relational approach is overwhelming. Firms that make the effort to build relationships enjoy win rates of 70 to 80% with those clients. Firms that don't win only 10 to 20%. Plus the first group will negotiate higher profits, have fewer claims, and enjoy more repeat customers.

From a short-term "selling" perspective, relationship development seems to be an exercise in frustration, as you can' immediately quantify results from your efforts. How much do you gain from digging up some useful information (unrelated to immediate future business) for a current client, or doing someone a favor at a networking event, (without expecting that person to rush back with an RFP opportunity?)

Relationship development, as well, is sometimes easier said than done for people who are not socially brilliant, but we can get around that problem by doing our real work truly well, and reflecting and sharing our passions with respect for the people around us. Lester offers some other suggestions, which he elaborates in his blog:

• Devote prospecting activities to identifying clients with long-term relationship potential.
• Allocate an appropriate amount of time to relationship building.
• Serve, don't sell.
• Don't take existing client relationships for granted.
• Keep the relationship at the forefront even in the latter stages of the procurement process.

Even if Lester overstates the change in hit rate between 10 and 20 and 70 to 80 per cent, consider the practicalities of the time you spend, saying that your hit rate increases from 10 to 50 per cent. This means you can expect to win five times as many jobs for the same number of proposals submitted if you focus on relationships rather than transactions. So, naturally, if you spend more time building these relationships and less time chasing bids, you'll actually win more jobs -- and generally have more fun in the process.

(Sure, you say, but what about this quarter's numbers! But that is the problem. Unless you can find a way off the transaction treadmill, your next quarter's numbers won't be much better.)

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The challenge of change: Breaking free of your marketing conventions

Toby Henderson's question asking how someone who has been successful with online marketing can succeed in the offline world raises some important additional challenges. The question is: If we are successful with one model of marketing, how to we expand or change our approach?

The parallel example, and these days a much more common one, would be: "I've built my business on word-of-mouth and referrals: How can I succeed at marketing outside this approach."

Change, virtually any kind of change, is difficult, for good reason. You must leave your comfort zone, and you must go away from the place where you've developed expertise, confidence and insights, into a new world. And change in approach requires you to fight against one of the four RIMC marketing pillars (Relationships, Intensity, Money and Consistency, with the C for "Consistency" the key here.)

When you change course you must battle fear, lack of knowledge, and often throw piles of money at an unproven answer. (Henderson says he dumped $20,000 into the Yellow Pages with poor results -- which, again, says some not very good things about the Yellow Pages, of course.)

As I noted in my earlier RIMC posting, you can succeed at marketing if you have three of the four elements in place. So if you take "consistency" out of the equation (at least in the short term), until you find another stable and reliable model for marketing), you will need to use the other three resources, while being cautious about how these forces are working on you.

Adding to the mix, when you put money into the equation, you also find, yes, the dreaded "salesperson". Some sales representatives are more ethical than others, and some will play your "relationship" need (which is higher when things are stable or you are entering new places) to get your, you guessed it, Money.

I think you need to turn this process on its head. Use your relationships to find your alternative media and new marketing strategies.

This will be especially effective if you have relied on referral and word of mouth. Simply spend some time with your existing clients and learn more about which media they read/view, which associations they are members of, and which marketing messages get through to them. Then you can call the appropriate media and brave the enticements of their sales representatives.

Your other approach is to check with non-competitive peers in other markets similar to yours. You will likely find these colleagues through your industry associations. Note you will also find salespeople with various marketing solutions at association events. They can be helpful, as they at least know your industry, but make your decision through real connections with true peers first.

Undoubtedly, when you enter the new space, you will make mistakes and throw seemingly good money after bad. I certainly advocate ensuring you have solid measuring tools and resources. You need to know how many leads you are acquiring from the new marketing methods, their conversion rate, and the value of business you achieve.

This will allow you to assess your cost per lead and your revenue per lead -- and whether the marketing is profitable. (Undoubtedly, outside of referrals, online marketing and successful media/community relations initiatives -- our specialty -- , you'll find your lead acquisition costs are higher than you've experienced before; the challenge is whether the incremental gain in leads and sales can help you sustain and grow your business.)

P.S. I've raised this question on the remodelcrazy.com forum, which you can follow to see what others think.

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Business and proposal development: Quantity, quality or both

One of the surest signs you are heading down the path of failure in construction industry marketing is when you are chasing and pursuing leads and project ideas you have a faint chance of winning.

This often happens when you start getting desperate: You can see your order and project backlog is drying up and you want to get work started, fast, to prevent the crunch of idle workers, expensive capital equipment and (if you are the marketing manager, rather than the boss), the threat of losing your job when you know few other employers will rush to hire you.

Trouble is, of course, you run into the all-to-common situation where the harder you try and "work", the poorer results you achieve. Hours spent on public bid proposals will do your company little good if the competition has already been wired in favor of an incumbent, or at least a much smaller short-list group; worse, is if you make the short list as an outsider through sheer effort, then pour your heart and soul into the final presentation, again, only to discover that the incumbent or special friend of the bidding authority has already really made its decision.

On another level, what good do you gain by attracting a group of 500 "first degree contacts" or 1,000 "followers" on Twitter, when you know nothing about the people in your contact list, and your followers are just following you because you've induced them to sign on, somehow.

So what should you do?

Here, you run into another irony. If you've been "relying" on referrals or repeat business, or (even worse) if you have put all your eggs into a very small number of client relationships, and these businesses either have failed, or your individual relationships no longer are influential or control the picture, what do you do? You are in deep and serous trouble.

The answer to these challenges of course is effective marketing, and systems for lead and relationship qualification and development. Setting numeric goals is important, and following guidelines and rules for relationship and business development can be helpful. Sometimes it is wise to work with large numbers.

For example, I cited the example that it is folly to blindly seek connections within the new electronic or social media groups. But since individual connections require little effort, and could in some way help your business, it isn't necessarily a bad sign to have a large online network. Your challenge is to communicate and give enough value to your group so that you can earn some "reciprocation" points -- at the right time, members will, knowing your business and its priorities, share valuable insights, leads or projects with you. (This is why you are best posting useful information rather than self-promotional notes when participating in online discussions and forums.)

When it comes to public RFPs and competitions, once again, you need to be pragmatic and selective. Rarely is it wise to go all the way in a public presentation exercise with the hope that you can perhaps win a future job; you need to find some way to find and develop your relationships away from the "stand em up and shoot them down" approach to business development.

But information about public proposals and projects may provide you with key insights into what is planned for the future, who the key players are, and where their network exists. You can decide if you want to invest time and energy in developing these relationships perhaps through selective association involvement, seeking relationships through your existing network, or the like.

If you need a short-term fix, your answer is either to connect with your existing clients and look for ways you can enhance or add on to their business (or simply in some cases, ask for a little work), or to figure out innovative adaptations to solve problems and present/communicate directly with your prospective clients, perhaps after building a knowledge base of referrals and connections.

In other words, if you know you can save money or provide value before the prospective client even is thinking of putting it out to public bid, you can develop your relationships and often gain an audience for an unsolicited proposal. This can be a lot of work, and you risk your efforts being "stolen" by someone already on the inside, but your chances are much better in succeeding than when you heed the cattle call and rush, like a lemming, to follow the crowd into preparing a submission to an open RFP where dozens have already applied.

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The construction marketing table

This blog posting has been moved to the new Construction Marketing Ideas blog site.

If you wish to go directly to the relevant page/posting, you can go here.

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Early rising

Yesterday, I had coffee with a successful sales representative, who has made the transition from the corporate world to a relatively small building supplies dealer.

He's always been actively connected in the community, and he knows the way to find business is to focus on the key elements in the decision-making and supply chain, while respecting and maintaining relationships.

He says he is amazed how representatives of building products manufacturers waste his time by "dropping in" on him at his office.

"I don't need to see these guys," he told me. "They could be much more helpful if they joined me or helped co-ordinate Lunch and Learns at local architects' offices."

Absolutely -- the vital thing in building products distribution (from the manufacturers) perspective, is to ensure your materials are in the project specifications; if you are fortunate and have a highly specific specification, you will get the business, no matter which general or sub-trade actually purchases the materials from the distributor or dealer.

So, when he isn't at architects' offices, how does he find business?

He gets up early, and heads to the construction offices with some Tim Hortons coffee or coffee gift cards. No one minds the "bribe" but everyone appreciates that he is on site at seven a.m.
And he writes up the orders -- often for emergency-needed materials. With these orders, he has new customers, and new business to serve.

I gave this successful representative a little "bribe" -- $50 in Tim Hortons coffee coupons. In return, he'll give me reports on the job sites he has visited, allowing me insights into whether they could be suitable for feature profiles in Ottawa Construction News. (His business also may receive another profile in a few months.)

"Let me know when you have a Lunch and Learn planned, where the architect and manufacturer wouldn't mind the publicity," I told him. "I'll come and write up a story which will give everyone even more publicity.

Then the sales representative reminded me: "If you are going on the sites in the morning, remember you need your safety gear, boots, hard hat and a safety vest?"

I said: "I know about the boots and hard hat -- I have them, but am not sure about the safety vest."

"No problem," he said. "I have some extra vests in my car, and I'll give you one." So now I have a bright green reflective safety vest in my collection of resources.

Meanwhile, we are both members of the local Construction Specifications Canada chapter Board of Directors and he is one of the first members of the Ottawa group of the Design and Construction Network.

Do you see how this type of relationship, connection, and community is a lot more effective than blind cold calls or "blast marketing"?

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Choices and focus

Have you ever experienced days when you felt like celebrating, and crying; when you felt both excitement for the future, and the feeling of (potential) loss; when you reached to the future but connected or were trapped in the past . . .

. . . .all at the same time.

Of course, for most of us, most days are like this; some good things happen, some bad, and we take it in stride with our basic nature and circumstances and move forward. Some days, everything goes well, and others, everything seems to go wrong, and occasionally the intensity of good and bad (either on different or similar circumstances) is truly higher than usual.

Now consider an important additional variable: If you have these variable feelings and experiences from day-to-day, what do you think is going on in the world around you, among your current and potential clients, your colleagues, your competitors, and complete strangers?

Some are in acute crisis, some are smiling with joy, some are just resting, and others are having a mixed bag of experiences and emotions, sometimes conflicting, and of varying intensity. So how can a one-size-fits-all "marketing solution" apply to all of these circumstances?

Social scientists will respond that you can predict and in many cases manipulate human behavior. Give a small gift, for example, and people will reciprocate, often out of proportion to the actual value of your gift. Use the word "because" in your marketing materials, and people will accept your request as credible, even if there is no intrinsic merit. Price something by mistake at twice the level it should be -- and people will say "sure" if the existing relationships are strong enough and the price appears consistent with other offerings.

(This happened earlier this week with one of our newly hired salespeople; we debated whether to simply change the offering to 'justify' the higher price; or let the clients know about the mistake; as it turns out, despite my initial misapprehension about losing revenue, the sales representative did the right thing and let the clients know about the mistake, and they paid the lower price.)

But the reality is that you can't read every situation and predict every mood and experience. So you do the best you can. Sometimes the oft repeated phrase: "Don't sweat the small stuff" is worth remembering. If something is going wrong, of course, we need to look into ourselves to make sure we have not caused the problem, and do what we can to fix it, if we have.

If the problem is external and is causing you distress, ("It's the economy, man") we need to remember that while there are things beyond our control and responsibility, the only thing we can control is how we respond.

Sure, this advice is standard stuff. We are not alone.

Now I need to reconnect with my son, who came down to the family room as I was writing this blog entry, and turned on the television. "This is irritating me," I told him, firmly. He got up, turned off the television, and said: "You have an office where you can work", before heading to his room, slamming the door.

He is right. So am I. It is a minor matter in the world of construction marketing. But that is life. (Why do people enjoy gambling?)

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Construction marketing: Effort, money and relationships

Which is the most important element in construction marketing success: The effort (work) you put into the process, the amount of money you spend, or the quality and nurturing of your relationships?

The 25 cent answer is: All of them count.

The $25 dollar answer is: If you work on two of them, you probably can cut back on the third.

But I wouldn't "rely" on just one, unless you are ready to go to extremes, a highly risky approach. And if you can balance all three, you are virtually assured of success.

For example, lets say you are like most people in this industry right now, and don't have much (if any) money to spare. By focusing your efforts, you probably can raise market awareness through hard personal work (for example, door knocking or phoning potential clients yourself) and if you are really smart, focusing your efforts to enhance and build the quality of your relationships, both with current and referred clients, and community/business centres of influence.

Lots of money and lots of effort: You can really blitz the advertising and pound the pavement. People may hate you and your business, but you'll still do enough through sheer force.

Lots of money and great relationships: You are behaving like you've "made it" already -- and you can take it easy as the cash rolls in. (For everyone else, isn't it nice to dream?)

But when we get down to earth, I suppose the ideal combination incorporates something of each element.

You'll want enough money to pay for effective, targeted advertising, fair wages and commission for your sales representatives. You are ready to put enough work into the process to ensure your money is spent properly and relations are properly maintained. And you of course enjoy great and rewarding relationships, with people and organizations who could care less about how much money you actually contribute. Probably, ultimately if you are great at relationships you can reduce the money and effort without too much harm. (But I'd reduce the money before the effort!)

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Construction marketing: Outsiders, insiders and the point of transition

At the Design and Construction Network Happy Hour in Washington on June 30: Sarah B. Dolby, Associate Account Manager with Atlantic Risk Management Corporation, Kathleen C. O'Leary, Business Developmentt with Scott-Long Construction, Inc., Lindsay B. McGhee, Account Manager with Atlantic Risk Management Corporation, and Brad McCoy, Account Executive with Mainbrain. You can connect with this group (no cost!) by visiting mydcn.com.

Successful construction-industry marketing is all about winning a place within your current and prospective clients' inner trust circle. When you get there, your relationships don't feel like business, they are more like enduring friendships. Money is still important, but your clients don't begrudge you your price (and profit) because they know you have their best inters ts at heart.

If your clients are "forced" by regulations or standard practice to ensure there are competitive bids, they will wire things so that you virtually always win. (I still remember a Labor Day weekend email containing the complete bidding documentation of a competitor sent to me by the bidding authority. No, I didn't ask for this confidential information, or imply even indirectly that this unofficial communication should happen. It just did.) In the U.S. public sector work especially at the federal level operates under Brooks Act rules, which takes price out of the picture and puts relationships and trust at center-stage.

The first construction marketing success question is how you win this trusted place? Equally important -- and providing a great clue to the the second question's answer, is "How do you retain the trust?"

The second question of course is easiest to answer. You retain the trust by delivering the goods with sensitivity, respect, and a sense of community, compassion, security, and adventure. In other words, you do your work so well and with your clients' interests so much in your heart that they would be insane to leave you.

(If you have in good times had a successful business by 'relying' on referrals for new work and repeat orders, you mostly have the second question answered correctly.)

Most importantly, you need to solve the second question before you even try to answer the first question. In other words, if you cannot truly deliver value for your clients, you must stop, think carefully, and either revise your business or do something else. You will be spinning your marketing wheels.

Nevertheless, even if you are great at what you do, you still need to answer the first question. You need new clients to replace ones that leave and to grow. You need to show people who don't know you, or who know you but aren't ready to accept you, that you are worthy of their consideration. Solutions include:

Connect your current, satisfied clients with new/prospective clients
This is where organized referral programs are helpful. These could be as simple as inviting clients for a meal and seeing if they know friends or colleagues who would do business with you, or as sophisticated as co-ordinating Networking and Thank-you events for your current/prospective clients.

Achieve media recognition and respect
Positive articles about your business in credible news media provide powerful trust-developing capacities. You aren't selling, you are delivering. The best media publicity is mostly "free" in that you don't pay directly for it, nor can you control every word or image that is published, and you don't have marketing control over the time and schedule of the publicity. Advertising-supported editorial (advertorial) publishing can be an effective compromise. It is what we do best and we can often provide this service without any cash or financial requirement from your business. See the Design and Construction Report for example.

Connect with your community
In the consumer market, this includes sports and community groups and associations; in the business market, you'll gain much traction by contributing to relevant client-centric associations. (Yes, participate in your own trade association, but your marketing clout will be highest when you participate in the association reflecting your clients' interests.)

Get your web presence in order
You need a great website optimized to attract leads and client interest within your marketplace. Most people now head to the Internet when they are looking for someone new, or to verify the credibility of someone they have heard a little about. High search engine rankings are better than top billing on the old Yellow Pages (these still work in some places), or community classified ads because they convey both credibility and provide immediate connections between potential clients in immediate need and your business. (We can help you out here, of course, especially if you have discovered this blog through the search engine process!)

Will any of these resources provide a quick-fix to your business/marketing challenges? Certainly, you can quickly develop your current and previous client relationships and build on them.

You may hit it off immediately with someone new, "Love at first sight", but obviously if you are banking on this happening with strangers, routinely, you are asking for trouble, both personally and in business.

What about price? Can you win trust by lowering it?
I think this is the hardest and most foolhardy way to win marketing battles. Do you really want to work with clients who hammer you down so far that you can't earn a profit?

And if you are marketing on price, how will you ever make enough money to make your business worthwhile? The only exception is if you have such a technological or operating advantage that you can truly be profitable while undercutting your competition. But most of us don't have that advantage.

As you read this, you may be scratching your head. You are being under-cut by fly-by-nighters, your loyal clients have deserted you to save some money (even though you provide great service), and you aren't worried about whether a potential client is an outsider, insider, or some fly on the wall. You just need business, quickly.

My advice for you is to take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, reduce your business expenses and overhead as much as possible, and spend an hour a day studying marketing. Then compile a list of your current and former clients, and figure out some "gives" (time not cash!) to justify a call or visit.

As you do this, start your community/association connection and publicity strategies. Call or email me at 888-432-3555 ext 224 or buckshon@cnrgp.com for some ideas.

How do you know you've reached the point of transition when you turn from an outsider to an insider? That magic moment occurs when someone you know and respect calls you, without hesitation, and either offers you business without worrying about price, or forwards a referral, seemingly unrequested. At that moment, you can celebrate true marketing and business success.

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Relationships underlying marketing

You achieve the magic construction marketing moment when you reach the level of communication that trust and respect are considered the core of your relationship -- not "selling something".

In fact, I would argue that with rare exceptions you aren't going to sell very much until you achieve this status.

However, you can't usually achieve this high relationship quality by conventional selling practices. I mean, do you really trust someone who telemarkets you, or really believe the advertisements you read?

But it is easy to lapse into the conventional, in fact, it is natural -- you think this is the way it is done, and so do it. You are "marketing" after all.

Yet, when you look at your business, you see that virtually every (profitable) sale you make actually occurs when the relationship founded on trust is so strong that your price doesn't matter. (Well, your price indeed matters, to an extent, because if you have a relationship based on trust, you would never abuse the trust by gouging someone or charging a price outside of the realistic value you are delivering.)

The irony is that our business is primarily selling the standard stuff -- advertising -- but we sell most of what we sell by connecting more closely with our clients and their own relationships.

You probably appreciate these principals if you have built your business in good times by "relying" on referrals. You do your work well, you build the relationships with your clients to such a level, that they tell their friends and colleagues about you, and your order book is full.

Unfortunately, when things slow down, you may be tempted to fall into conventional marketing traps -- or be sold a pile of crap by conventional marketing sales representatives.

How do you get around these marketing myths and achieve meaningful results. I'll go out on a limb and suggest three ideas to follow:

1. Build on your referrals. If you have great client relationships, connect (more closely) with them, in a systematic but human way. You'll achieve far greater results with this form of marketing than any other option.
2. Look at media publicity as the most cost-effective non-referral marketing opportunity available to you. Media publicity can include your own media; namely blogs, videos, and Internet forum participation. It can also be independent editorial coverage in publications, websites and radio/television stations. We make most of our money by providing advertising-supported editorial publicity; done right, this can be a great seed for independent editorial coverage, and is far more effective than conventional advertising.
3. Remember that relationships don't need to correlate directly to any selling or "business development" but you want these relationships to focus within your ideal client community. In other words, focus on giving, sharing, and connecting without worrying about return, but hang out in the right neighbourhoods or with the right business associations.

Does this stuff work? Absolutely. And you don't have to sell a thing to find the clients you really want to serve if you get it right.

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The perfect (and near-perfect) marketing place

The BILDCOttawa event provided plenty of networking opportunities, in a natural environment. Perfect for marketing.

Yesterday afternoon, recovering from my spammy survey market research effort, I attended a perfect marketing event. Perfect for my business, that is. Nevertheless, the event also proved to be near-perfect for most of the other participants.

The event: A BILDCOttawa afternoon panel discussion focusing on the "Anti-Recession Infrastructure Program". BILDCOttawa is a lobbying and information-sharing consortium of associations representing the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA), The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) -- Ottawa, the Consulting Engineers of Ontario -- Ottawa Branch, the General Contractors Association of Ottawa (GCAO), and the Iinternational Facilities Management Association (IFMA) -- Ottawa Chapter.

GCAO representatives encouraged me to attend, and organizers made me welcome by waiving the $25.00 fee (which included lunch and dinner). Representatives of several companies providing products and services for facilities management paid to be sponsors and had space for their exhibits.

The meat of the event: Representatives of the Canadian federal government and the City of Ottawa explained exactly how much money they had from anti-recession infrastructure programs, and how they planned to spend the cash. This is golden market research information for the general contractors and architects in the room and great stuff for Ottawa Construction News. (I was the only journalist there.)

I'm sure you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see why this is a perfect marketing venue for me.

• The participants and organizers wanted me to be there because my presence lends support and credibility to their efforts;
• The participants are mostly decision-makers and senior executives within the community of people who can facilitate revenue-generating features and advertising for our publications;
• We were in a warm, educational, and relaxing environment, where we had plenty of opportunity to network, communicate and share stories.
• The event cost me nothing but time (and this time is well spent -- I have significant editorial content for our publications, as well as valuable marketing and sales leads).
• Our presence there creates a positive connection between our publications and the marketplace; in other words, it helps the brand.

In reading these observations you may be saying "good for you, but how does this help my business?" The answer is that you can find similar opportunities, right under your nose, if you look in the right places.

Consider these points:

Association involvement, especially with associations that connect or serve your clients or key influencers, provides powerful marketing opportunities.

You may find you can take things a step further by building liaisons and linkages between your specific trade association or group and client-centric organizations, to create new levels of association involvement, such as BILDCOttawa. Leadership in these endeavors ultimately puts you in the right place, at the right time, among potential clients.

Consider the power of your niche, namely your specific skill or service, and how it applies in the marketplace.

We sell advertising; you might install drywall or build office towers, but you have something of value to offer. Meld this within the association and community framework, and you hit a marketing home run.

Look at the associations named in this article: Yes, they are local, Ottawa chapters, but most are part of associations with chapters in most major cities. In other words, the synergies and inter-relationships here could truly also apply in your own market areas.

From a near-perfect perspective, I don't think the suppliers who paid for exhibit space at this event feel they lost out on the deal. They had direct and immediate access to people who could truly specify their services, and they could overtly promote their services in a meaningful environment.

Regarding my spammy market research test, yesterday's blog entry resulted in some useful emails from readers with practical suggestions and ideas to overcome the marketing challenges exposed by that experiment. This blog's openness may represent one of its most powerful marketing advantages. Bob Kruhm pointed me to this Raintoday.com posting: Using Social Media to Build Trust and a Brand, which explains how blogging and showing your business as it is, warts and all, can be really helpful in your marketing process.

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Relations: Why change is risky

Our visions, attitudes and reality are shaped by experiences, background, and existing relationships.

Most of us, most of the time, seek to live our lives within the safe zone of existing habits, values, and perceptions. Stretches outside these bounds are rare -- perhaps a crisis forces a change, or (more rarely) we feel comfortable enough where we are to reach out and try something new.

In part, this explains why businesses started during recessions usually do better long term than ones started during good times. Forced to create something out of nothing, in a tough market where innovation and selling abilities are essential, we somehow survive -- and then thrive when times improve. (Of course we can also get lazy, but even then, when times get tough, we can remember our earlier experiences, roll up our sleeves, and solve the problems.)

Our existing relationships, of course, provide stability -- and when our businesses are established, the repeat and referral business they generate allow us to maintain ourselves without straining too hard. They also provide an anchor and some security.

But they also can be costly and pull you down, or prevent you from making necessary changes.

The problem is in most cases you can't simply ditch them. Do you want to break up your marriage, for example?

Here is an example of how the dynamics of existing relationships (or lack of them) create opportunities and limitations in your marketing strategies.

In the first case, I am writing about an Ontario architect which has discovered a lucrative and highly successful business by acting as a self-contractor, especially for medium-to-high end cottages outside of Toronto. The architecture practice formed out of an informal partnership started during the 1990s recession, where the partners, not able to obtain architectural internships, ended up in family contracting businesses. They learned how to build as well as design. With the integrated approach and defined market niche, the architectural practice is thriving (and clients are receiving real value for their money).

In the second, a U.S. contractor which relies on architectural referrals for high-end residential projects asked me for marketing advice. Should this person bring in an architect and start designing his own buildings? I think you can see that this would be a highly risky move, indeed.

The best solution I could offer the builder is to engage in advising, helping, and training the architects on practical building techniques -- they may 'steal' the ideas, but the relationships formed will encourage more referrals (but nowhere as many as providing the architects with new client referrals directly.)

Of course, if your existing relationships are dysfunctional, you will need to change but beware of radical shifts. The grass is rarely greener elsewhere -- at least as you currently perceive things.

I remember well the failure of the Eatons Department Store in Canada. Founded by an entrepreneur, successive generations decided to live the life of the landed gentry, and the business reached the failure point. In a desperate move, the store tried to become "hip" -- ignoring that most of its current clients were elderly, and a massive new advertising campaign, with new merchandise designed entirely for younger people, would do little to satisfy the needs of the loyal, if aging, current clients.

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"Your best marketing investment is time"

Why are golf tournaments, like this annual event from the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association, so successful? They provide members the opportunity to connect and be together in a relaxing, social context -- where relationships develop and business opportunities are nurtured.

"Double-A" on contractortalk.com writes:

The best investment I've found you can make in new business development is time. Advertising is great, but people don't like to do business with a flyer, a yellow page ad, or even a coupon. They'd trade all of that for a personal relationship or associating with the owner or an employee.

In other words, a person on the "inside".

Church, kids sports programs, business groups, self improvement groups, etc. are the place to network and meet people. Pass out business cards and "press the flesh". Once folks have met you, and spoken with you, they will remember you with the time comes. All the fancy web sites in the world won't help much when everyone is on the web. Same with yellow pages. A full page ad, the front and/or back cover ad.... all worthless if folks don't feel a connection to your company.

The best new business comes from old business. Mining the customer base. Asking for referrals, calling to check on completed work, asking for new work, etc. are some of the best ways to put raw material into the machine.

Advertising has its place, from a branding stand point, but it should not be the only driver for new business. You should be pulling in as much new business from personal contact as you are from ads, perhaps more. The ads serve to give you a place and to instill a sense of your company "belonging" in and to the community it serves.

Also, the best advertising we do is not in the traditional places. People like to buy from folks just like themselves. This means we seek out ads in church flyers and calendars, sponsor kids sports teams and ball parks bill boards, participate and sponsor food and clothing drives, as well as, volunteer build/paint days with the city, county, etc.

Putting your name out there is a matter of selling your company full time. Advertising is a way to re-enforce what you and your people bring to the job personally and professionally each and every day. I've found that just being there... where ever that might be, is enough to generate leads and really helps to close sales.

"I saw you at my kid's ball game the other day! Does your boy play ball?"
"No, I sponsor your son's team and I go to every game I can. Not as many as I'd like, but I make as many as I can."

With 20-30 kids on the teams, and grand parents factored in, not to mention friends and non-immediate family, I figure I'll meet and talk with 60-80 people a month just from that one sponsorship. Now, how many are "qualified leads"? Dunno and don't care. If they need me, they know I'm there for their kids/grandkids/neighbors/nephew and that I'll be there for them, too.

You can't put that in an ad.

Double-A is right, especially when your market pool is very local or your network of decision-makers is truly exclusive (as is usually the case for significant business-to-business or non-residential work.) However, systematic client-focused advertising developed by a process where you listen to your clients and connect with their interests, is effective when you combine it with healthy personal relationships and community involvement.

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The boundaries of extreme behavior

Have you ever experienced the soaring, then crashing, feeling, of reaching new heights, amazing insights, and then, wham, all seems to fail?

For most of us, this kind of experience happens rarely, but I sense some push the limits more often than others.

In polite company these individuals are called eccentrics. In less-than-polite environments, they are called "nuts".

In a business or social environment, intelligent eccentrics challenge you to think differently, to stretch your limits, to try new things, and then, you want to be away from them (unless you are, yourself, a truly exceptional person).

If you can tolerate their presence, eccentric geniuses can truly challenge your assumptions and cause wonderful change. They can also blow away your clients and drive your employees and colleagues crazy. You then need to know when to ask them to leave.

I can now safely relate two examples of this dynamic at work.

In the first, in my final days in Africa, I had discovered (drum roll here please), the secret to life. I was soaring -- on top of the world -- and daring all sorts of assumptions. After one particularly wild escapade which goes down in personal memory as the night I discovered my self identity, my supervisor called me into his office and asked me, point blank, "Are you well?" He then invited me to resign, immediately.

My boss, then, of course, made the right decision. He would himself soon leave, of course, as the political and historical changes I had witnessed took real effect on the newspaper as the country morphed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.

My second example is more complex. The leader of a major business organization battled as co-defendants with my business in a lawsuit initiated by a competing publisher. Things ran their course and the judge ultimately cleared my business but not the business organization or its leader. Still, as the organization ended up having to pay a large part of my legal bills, this leader said: "Don't worry, I have another project for you in the New Year."

Then he headed down to one of the seediest parts of town, and picked up a police woman. When news about him needing to attend "John School" reached the media, the association's board of directors asked him to leave.

Certainly, in business we don't want a bunch of "yes men" who do what they are told to do and never question authority or challenge our thinking. And sometimes it is good to have eccentrics in the picture -- they really can shake up our thought processes and assumptions.

But do we need to "fire" them when they disrupt harmony or exceed social norms to such a degree that they threaten your business integrity, brand or reputation?

Probably.

Sometimes this is sad, because in moderate amounts, their eccentricity helps you to be creative, to keep your balance, and to risk change.

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Does the emperor have any clothes?

Whose advice should you follow when we are in a time of economic distress? Can a guru whose sales are declining and laying off employees dare to tell you the secrets of marketing success?

The answer is: Do you know what drives your own business forward, and do you really know what is going on around you?

Yesterday, for example, I had a conversation with a well-placed person who I respect as a true genius about sales, marketing and business development for the professions. We discussed online marketing issues, pricing (we both agree that if your business is not a commodity, the last thing to do in a recession is to lower your prices), and the need to make hard business decisions in hard times.

I've earned this relationship -- and some others of similar nature -- by not worrying about the short term, the "take", the quid-pro-quo, and immediate reciprocity, In essence, these relationships have been built through generosity of spirit and (last year), an overly open budgetary spigot for travel, business development and business expansion.

Today, on one level, some of the expenses I incurred in 2008 seem like a waste. Perhaps not spending the money would have bought some more time before I needed to make hard cuts and changes in the business.

However, on a second level, the expenses in relationship and business development have proven to be wise. They are providing the seeds for new, inexpensive, and low risk publishing projects with exceptionally high potential, one which I expect to announce in greater detail within the next couple of weeks.

Clearly, when the wolf is at your door, the long-range stuff needs to take a back seat. You need business, now, and you may need to do some things you don't really enjoy. But if you spent time, money and effort during the good times in planting the seeds for healthy relationships, these will do you much good when things are less rosy.

Just recognize the importance of these longer-range connections and values if you are tempted to take rash, short term actions. Sometimes the immediate potential reward may not be worth the potential long-term cost.

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Relationships and Marketing: Untold stories

Many of our business's greatest sales and marketing successes never reach this blog, at least as they are developing. Generally, as things progress from initial possibility to final transaction, several things happen and putting the process into the public eye rarely helps.

I should say, putting the WHOLE process into the public eye rarely helps. Sometimes the story includes a "public" element and since our business is publishing and publicity, we'll use these resources and capacities when they make sense.

But what about all of the stuff you never see? Sure, much of what we do is the standard stuff -- building the brand, communicating, sharing and winning trust, and then (finally) achieving commitment for clients to spend money. Fair enough. But that is only a fraction of the story.

For example, yesterday, a good client paid for my lunch, then I went to a retail business owned by a non-client. My assignment: To gather notes and write an impressively positive editorial profile about this non-client business for one of our publications.

We volunteered to do the story, without charge or expectation of anything in return, when we heard our client had decided to do business with one of our competitors, expecting similar results to the experience with us. (We earn most of our money through supplier-supported advertising features.)

The competitor had produced a poor-quality feature, while using some high pressure sales techniques. And the company which I visited yesterday had purchased a grossly overpriced ad to support the feature for our client.

In case you are wondering why we should voluntarily offer to help a client out by solving the problems caused by a competitor, you have failed Marketing 101. If your cash cost is low by helping out a client in repairing the damage caused by your competitor, you are almost certain to come out ahead in the long-run; if only by really encouraging referrals and more repeat business.

As it is, our client, besides buying me lunch, purchased an ad in this 'non revenue' feature (because he has such respect for his supplier), that we ended up making a little bit of money because of our generosity.

Great marketing is often a series of simple and small decisions. Little extras and respectful responses for your clients rarely cost very much, but pay heavy dividends. Never saying bad things about your competitors, but listening to your clients complain bitterly about the competitors' failings -- and then offering to solve the problems the competitors caused -- is great stuff for your brand and referrals.

"Listen, if you have anyone who is approached by that (unnamed here) competitor, have them give me a call, and I'll set them straight," our client told me yesterday. (It doesn't harm that he is a leader of some of the major trade associations around here.)

Sure, marketing is about branding, and can include advertising, company policies, pricing decisions and the like. But in the end your real success will come down to how you and your employees connect the dots and relate to your clients and your community. If you can capture the opportunity to go beyond their expectations as your competitors do things the "same old (bad) way", you will come out ahead of the game, always.

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