that addressed the challenge of the main waiting room, turning it into a space in which people could be comfortable. Here’s another example from the LGA portfolio: In 2010, LGA was invited to submit a proposal for the design of a renovation to convert the old Las Vegas city hall into a commercial office facility. The team looked at the project as being more about stitching a new composite culture together, a way to help the client combine people from multiple locations to one group in one place. Because of this cultural aspect, an important part of LGA’s submittal was a video LGA developed about the client’s culture. LGAdidn’t win that project; but two years later, the firm got a referral from one of that client’s staff members, touting them as “the most creative guys in town.” A great many A/E firms still believe that their clients are interested only in their technical qualifications and that there is no emotional component to the client’s decision to purchase. But the firms that have learned better — those that have found and honed their connection stories — have seen their success rates improve significantly. During the last few years, it has been made abundantly clear that sto- ries help people make connections, that connections can humanize a strange firm, or even a strange team from within an already known firm. It has also been made clear that people prefer to award their projects to people and firms they know and like, to firms and people with whom they believe they will have an enjoyable project work experience. In fact, we have reached a point where the assumed quality of the project
experience is often as important a factor in the selection process as the desired technical quality of the project deliverables. In the long run, a compelling story can help a prospective client under- stand who and what you are , not just what you do . Your statistics tell the client what you do and what you have done. But your in-person interactions and stories tell the client if you are the kind of people with whom they want to work, the kind of people with whom they want to interact on a project team for what might be multiple years, depending on the project. If you can walk into the room for your shortlist interview and the cli- ent already thinks, “These are the folks we want to work with,” you are already close to selection and the project is, as we sometimes say, “yours to lose.” So pay attention to your staff as you wander around. Listen to the stories they tell and the way they tell them. Find your Aesop and then focus his or her attention on your projects, your history, your stories. Then make sure the rest of your folks know those firm stories and how to tell them effectively.
BERNIE SIBEN, CPSM, is owner and principal consultant at The Siben Consult, LLC (http://sibenconsult.com), an independent A/E strategic and marketing consultant located in Austin, Texas. Contact him at siben@sibenconsult.com or at 559-901-9596.
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csengineermag.com
may 2018
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