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Guest post by: Scott Hunter Become an Author

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Total Quality Management, customer satisfaction index, zero defects, customer service - all are buzzwords of management in the 1990s. Yet what is all this about anyway? After all, engineers and firms successfully made it through the '80s without all the commotion about quality and service. Why all the fuss now? Is this just another fad, some passing fancy that will come and go like Hula-Hoops, disco dancing or designer jeans? Hardly. While the jargon may change over the balance of the decade, a fundamental change is taking place in customer service, and the engineers who realize this and change with it will be the engineers who will be successful in the 21st century and beyond.

All structures are built upon a foundation. A high-rise is built upon a foundation of concrete and steel. The taller the building, the deeper and stronger the foundation required to support it. Similarly, an engineering practice is built upon a foundation, specifically upon the foundation of relationships with people. Like the high-rise, the greater the intended accomplishment and productivity of the firm, the deeper and stronger these bedrock relationships must be. In fact, the limits of accomplishment, productivity and satisfaction within the firm are all a function of the nature and quality of the relationships the members of the firm have developed with the firm's customers.

Jimmy Johnson, the only coach in football history to win both the National Collegiate Championship and the Super Bowl, understood the critical importance of personal relationships when he grabbed the reins of the Dallas Cowboys' franchise. In just three years, he took the league's worst team to the pinnacle of professional success. In the locker room following the team's stunning Super Bowl victory, Johnson poignantly told his team that, more than anything else about the day, they would remember the love they had for each other. The team's success was built upon a foundation of strong relationships, deep appreciation for one another and, yes, even love.

Likewise, truly successful engineers have always built their practices upon a foundation of strong customer relationships. However, during the '80s, when a seller's market existed for engineers, many were able to build successful practices without this fundamental component. The tide has turned though, and purchasers of engineering services can now afford to be much more selective in their choice of engineers.

As with every other purchase decision, individuals prefer to do business with people they like, with people who seem genuinely interested in them and with people who really care about their concerns. Today, it is more important than ever that engineers recognize and appreciate that they must build rich, quality relationships with their customers and must orient their firms around assuring outstanding customer service.

This process starts with the initial interview. The worst mistake an engineer can make is to get right down to business when first meeting a prospective customer. The most critical result to be produced during the first meeting is to begin to build a strong relationship of trust. The engineer should thank the individual for coming to the firm and to out of his or her way to be warm and friendly. The engineer should never sit behind a desk. Instead, the engineer and potential customers should meet in a comfortable neutral area and spend 10 to 15 minutes just getting to know one another. Business shouldn't be discussed until the engineer is satisfied that he or she is comfortable with the prospective customer and, more importantly, that the customer is comfortable with the engineer and the firm.

As the particular case is discussed, the interviewer must be sensitive to the developing relationship with the potential customer. If during the initial conversation the engineer doesn't feel that he or she will enjoy working with this individual, if a sense of mutual admiration, respect and trust is absent, the engineer should refer the customer to a colleague. This may sound crazy, but should the customer retain this engineer, everyone will regret it later.

Consider your experience. Every really disgruntled customer, every customer you later regretted having worked with, you suspected from the very beginning. Don't do it to yourself or the firm. Life is too short. Only when both parties are satisfied that they enjoy working together and that the firm is appropriate to handle the matter should an offer of representation be extended.

Finally, throughout your firm's representation, don't forget to work on what built the relationship in the first place. Maintain frequent communication with the customer and continue to check on how he or she is doing. This is the essence of service. Rather than assuming you're doing a good job taking care of the customer, ask the customer if you are. Find out if he or she is getting what was expected.

It's my experience that most engineers specifically don't ask the customer if everything is satisfactory because they don't want to find out that it isn't. This is a mistake. If the customer is indeed dissatisfied, it's far better that you know about it so you can at least have a chance to do something about it. If you don't ask, on the other hand, the customer will eventually let you know anyway, either by leaving, not paying their bill or complaining about you to others. None of these alternatives are very desirable. Periodically, ask the customer if anything additional can be done for him or her. No customer satisfaction survey can take the place of personal contact, old-fashioned courtesy and genuine concern.

No matter what you've heard, customers don't hire firms or even engineers, they hire people. Though important, quality work and a result favorable to the customer are no guarantee of continued customer loyalty, repeat business or the referral of friends and family. What makes customers come back and sent their friends to you is that they like you, and only you can see to that.

SUMMARY

As with every other purchase decision, individuals prefer to do business with people they like, with people who seem genuinely interested in them and with people who really care about their concerns. Today, it is more important than ever that engineers recognize and appreciate that they must build rich, quality relationships with their customers and must orient their firms around assuring outstanding customer service.

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