Networking/Client Relations

5 Steps to Building and Maintaining Client Relationships

November 8, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest post by Zane Pucylowski , P.E.

Customers want to work with engineers who provide excellent service by respecting their time and needs. However, manufacturing challenges, constant innovations, and changes to the industry can be a barrier to excellent customer service. Without great customer service and relationship building, new innovations and investments may never happen. Keeping a steady pipeline of existing clients will be beneficial to your firm. Existing clients keep your project board full and can recommend your firm to new clientele. However, closing on a new lead can take time, so it helps your firm to re-engage with existing clients. As the President and Principal Engineer at Phoenix Engineering and Consulting, I have seen the importance of maintaining solid client relationships. Here are five ways we work with clients to make sure we keep these relationships strong.

1. Maintain an Open Mind

Three Situations Where Customers Are Not Always Right

October 4, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest post by Nader Mowlaee

You must have heard this phrase before: “The customer is always right.” And chances are you have assumed that it applies to everyone and every business. However, based on my experience, there are three situations where this is not the case. In this article, I would like to share those situations with you so you won’t be negatively affected by misplaced beliefs or false expectations.

The idea or purpose behind this saying is to improve the quality of service we offer to everyone, whether they are purchasing products or services from us (external customers) or working on the same team as us (internal customers). However, over the last few years, I’ve seen many cases where internal and external customers have quoted this phrase to bend the truth a bit or break a rule. Here are three situations where the idea of, “the customer is always right,” is wrong.

Engineers Can Provide Stellar Client Service

October 1, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Tiffani Teachey

Stellar client service is the key to retaining clients. As an engineer, one might not think client service would be in an engineer’s wheelhouse, but it’s often one of the most effective ways to retain clients. Stellar client service is the key to your business and company’s success. It is a way to provide a competitive edge in the industry and help grow one’s company. The benefits of stellar client service outweigh the costs, as they will gain loyal customers who will come back for more! Below are three ways engineers can use their skill set and knowledge base to provide stellar client service:

Solving the Client’s Problems and Providing Solutions

Providing Stellar Service to Your Engineering Customers

September 13, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Pamela A. Scott

Think back to the last time you had a marvelous buying experience. It doesn’t matter what you were buying — a car, prescription drugs, or a hot dog. What made that experience stand out for you, the customer?

Now, put yourself in the shoes of your customers. They are the clients who hire you or your firm to provide whatever services you or your firm offer. How would they rate their experience as your customer?

A few years ago, I asked that question to a group of engineering project managers (PMs). Here are a few of dozens of topics they raised related to providing excellent service to their engineering customers:

Questions for Your Clients

3 Ideas to Help Grow Your Community and Improve Your Life

September 6, 2021 By EMI

This is a guest post by Nader Mowlaee

It goes without saying that we are living through unprecedented times. But we’re all tied up together in this thing called life. Think of each other as bees of the same hive. When one bee is hurt, the entire hive suffers. It goes the other way too; when one bee thrives, the whole hive prospers. So I’m here to discuss how growing as a single person will help grow your community and improve their quality of life.

It’s not difficult to wake up nowadays and feel like life is awful on all fronts: our jobs are stagnant, our government is letting us down, and our physical and mental health has been neglected. All of this makes us feel like we are not fulfilling our true potential, and we are unhappy as a result. Sure, we are not going at it alone, and this happens to everyone. But, how can we change it?

We can change it by bettering ourselves. Yes, we can help our communities grow and prosper by improving our own lives. It will take lots of work, but fortune favors the courageous. If we believe in ourselves, we will reach our personal life goals and become the best version of ourselves, therefore positively and holistically affecting our communities and the people in them.

1. Compete With Yourself and Root for Everybody Else

Mastering the 4 Ways to Show Thought Leadership on LinkedIn

January 25, 2021 By Angelique Burns

This is a guest blog by Carl Friesen

Imagine your ideal client, employer, or business partner has heard about you and wants to learn more. Let’s give this person a name — we’ll call her “Aisha.” She’s someone you want to impress, as she could be the key to your brighter future.

So if she’s interested in learning more about you, how will she do it? Aisha will likely begin by going online, and what will likely show up first about you is your LinkedIn profile.

So ask yourself: Would Aisha be impressed with what she finds there? Will she be reassured that you’re a recognized expert in your field, someone worth her time?

One of the most important ways to show your expertise, so Aisha will take the next step of reaching out to you, is through publishing thought leadership content on your LinkedIn profile.

It could be content about a new development in your field, such as a new law, regulation, or disruptive technology. Maybe it’s a trend you’ve seen. Or it could be a case study of a project you’ve worked on.

Providing Stellar Client Service: Engage Holistically

September 21, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Mike Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

As we commence a discussion about client service, I find myself reflecting on my first Engineering Management Institute (EMI) blog, “Think Big, Be Mindful.” Serving our clients and growing market share should create synergies with our individual goals and personal lives. Again, allowing us to evolve our vision as intentions, setting direction — not prescribing a destination. In this instance, we are going to set intentions by broadening our client perspective. This broader perspective allows us to avoid boundaries that might erode our individual and collective paths to success.

I thoroughly enjoy considering and discussing the complex programs and projects that AEC professionals serve. Like many of you, this enjoyment has allowed me to grow from technical roles into leadership positions with increasing business development (BD) responsibilities, realizing along the way that I am not a natural salesperson. Yet, I benefit from and continue to enjoy working with exceptional marketing, BD, and operations colleagues, who help me to refine my approach to winning work and providing stellar client services. Along the way, one of these wonderful colleagues introduced me to Heidi Gardner’s book.

Mrs. Gardner’s extended title necessitates a deeper read: “Smart Collaboration: How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos.” I would not suggest taking on silos as a path toward exceptional client services. However, I wholeheartedly support her guidance, which promotes zippered relationships, allowing us to avoid cross-selling gaps as we orchestrate collaborative selling objectives. Silos emerge for reasons that we need to understand, especially where Wall Street-driven performance metrics and commercialization of our products create onerous metrics for hit rates, profit, loss, and utilization. We must explore ways to incrementally feed these metrics, concurrently exposing colleagues whose breadth of knowledge and desire to grow create mutually beneficial opportunities — opportunities where our collective experiences provide a premium experience for our clients.

Like any dynamic problem, the complexities associated with artfully incentivizing internal and external clients necessitate an elegant approach. I believe that sustained stellar client services starts with a people-centric program management approach, marrying a comprehensive stakeholder assessment with dynamic communication loops throughout the project delivery lifecycle.

Step 1: Understanding and supporting your internal and external clients

Building Community and Your Engineering Career

August 3, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Sabrina Rivera, P.E.

I was going to start with the definition of community, but I have a feeling you already have a few examples in mind. For me, community is something that is created through multiple positive interactions with a group of individuals. Over time, bonds form and community develops, as all members are looking for the betterment of themselves and the group overall.

There are many benefits to being involved with a community, both directly and indirectly related to your career. The obvious one is professional organizations, which provide networking technical enrichment and social functions. Indirect communities can also provide opportunities by introducing you to people who are part of your network but not anyone you had met before or people from different industries who can serve as mentors and friends. Additionally, working with communities indirectly related to your career can provide an avenue for a cross-pollination of ideas and be a source of inspiration.

My first real experience with building community occurred when I served as president of the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) ASCE student club. Although our organization had existed for many years, there were ebbs and flows with involvement. During this year, my fantastic team and I were able to increase membership and excitement for the club. A few steps we took to build community were:

Building Confidence: Empathetic Stakeholder Engagement

February 17, 2020 By EMI

Empathetic Stakeholder Engagement is a guest blog by Michael Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

Previously, I encouraged you to broadly engage your network as you explore your professional intentions, creating balance, reducing stress, and inspiring learning objectives. A positive step in a naturally closed system, relying on trusted peers. Yet, as professionals in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry, we learn early on in our careers that a wide variety of dynamic voices, which we refer to as stakeholders influence our work and the infrastructure assets we deliver. For sustained success, we must consider the voices who inform and are informed by our work.

So how do we build confidence as we face challenges, working with these dynamic stakeholder groups? The Project Management Institute (PMI) is one of many good resources to learn the science associated with stakeholder management. Let’s focus on the art of engaging diverse voices for our collective success — personally, professionally, and across the project delivery lifecycle.

How to Develop Relationships With Engineering Managers

November 18, 2019 By EMI

This is a guest post by Nader Mowlaee

As an engineer, you know it’s essential to be a team player, collaborate with your colleagues, and build your skills to advance your career. However, if you want to accelerate “climbing the ladder” or get access to pitch your ideas to the right people, then it’s worth building strong, positive relationships with engineering managers. Workers who maintain a strong, positive relationship with their managers not only increase their employment opportunities, but enhance engagement and improve productivity too. In fact, a Gallup survey highlights that companies with engaged employees increase productivity by 17%.

Without having a strong, positive relationship with your engineering manager, your boss may overlook you when someone is needed to take on a special assignment or travel to represent the company at a trade-show. Moreover, you risk hampering your job growth opportunities and becoming disengaged and unmotivated to work. So, it’s essential to develop positive and strong relationships with your engineering managers. Here’s how to do it: