Here’s a big tip for you project managers and marketers out there. Lean close…”plastics”. Ok, only funny to a handful of you.

One of the things I talk to my fellow consultants about is communicating on a steady, recurring basis to our customers – both when on an engagement and when we are not. Here’s how it goes:

Probably the smartest thing we do on our engagements is the creation and issuance of weekly project status report. It helps lowers the anxiety of our clients, fosters communication, and is a consistent tool that all parties involved can count on to track progress and to communicate issues.

The key is having the mechanism in place as part of the project infrastructure. The timing of it must never change, once set – it then becomes an accepted part of the project ‘tools’. It can be used to deliver less-than-thrilling news about the project, particularly when there are under-performers involved.

The key phrases, with regard to project communication, that I continue to hammer home to the consultants at Lupine are the words ‘recurring’ and ‘inviolate’.

The same argument and concept can be made about marketing your business. (See page 1 of this newsletter.) Contacting your customers only after they have jumped ship does not help you more quickly achieve your goals. The contact with them should be recurring, expected, and intentional.

From time to time, I am asked how I went into business for myself…how it got started for me.

It started back in 1990…I was in desperate situation at the time – I did not have a job, I was 2 more bad breaks away from being homeless and had custody of two young children. I really needed the job I had applied for with First Gibraltar Bank.

I got the job and began my recovery. I learned a lot working in an Information Systems department (was called MIS back then) and added it to my other wanderings in real estate, publishing, and the CPA world. I found that I had a natural gift for working on systems – both as a business analyst, project manager, and in solving the actual technical problems.

One of the last things I did for First Gibraltar was to lead a team that was assembled to select a software management system for the real estate group. We ended up choosing the most well-known package at the time. This was March, 1991.

After First Gibraltar made the selection, I started (covertly) dabbling with the software, but because I was ‘management’, I didn’t really get the opportunity to dive into the details like I wanted. My bosses always reined me in. My first use of the software while still employed at FGB was on a government-backed real estate portfolio project with very strict reporting deadlines. The deadlines came and went because the software did not work as warranted. I spent a lot of time with the President of the software organization trying to work through the problems and trying to keep First Gibraltar from losing the large government contract. What really struck me at the time was how poor and apathetic the support from the software company was. They treated me as if the problem was of my creation and that I was an idiot. I remember thinking – I could do this for a living and certainly do a much better job of it.

Shortly thereafter, Bank of America purchased First Gibraltar Bank. I was offered a job with BofA and a job with the remaining bank – First Madison Bank. Instead I finagled a consulting contract with First Madison as they viewed me as irreplaceable. I sold myself as a software expert.

I started Lupine Partners on February 1, 1993, as an independent consultant performing software consulting services.

I had one client – my former employer.

My contract with First Madison ended 9 months later in October. I will never forget the night in October – about 2 weeks before the engagement ended. It was a Friday night and I was sitting in the bedroom watching a basketball game on TV. And it hit me – I did not have any jobs lined up. And furthermore, I did not have any prospects in the work, because I had not done marketing or selling during the previous 9 months. I had felt, and I am not making this up, that it would be disloyal and dishonest to look for other jobs while engaged by a client. This horrible feeling of stupidity is one I will never forget….

I had a rough 6 weeks…but finally, I caught a break when I received a referral from MRI to perform a 2-day training for a client in Denver, Colorado. (Thank you again Chris.) The training went very well – and they called me back 2 weeks later to see if I would be interested in leading a nationwide conversion of all 100 of their remote locations. I told them I would have to check my schedule, which of course was completely empty, and would call the next day.

I landed the engagement and never looked back. I never again put myself in the position again of not having substantial work either sold or in the works.

I can clearly remember in May 1995, sitting at my desk when it hit me. I had a client base of about 15 by that time, was busy every day, was marketing very little, and the phone rang frequently for more work. What hit me was that I had made it. I had actually created a little small business for myself that was based on some very simple principles. I think of them as the 5 customer service truths:

1. Say please, thank you, and your welcome.

2. Over-manage expectations. Or said another way, do what you say you are going to do.

3. Don’t make your problems your client’s problems.

4. Return all client communications (written, verbal, voice, e-mail) promptly. Thank you again Governor.

5. Show your appreciation for their business. Say it.

A man was suffering a persistent problem with his house. The floor squeaked. No matter what he tried, nothing worked. Finally, he called a carpenter who friends said was a true craftsman.

The craftsman walked into the room and heard the squeak. He set down his toolbox, pulled out a hammer and nail, and pounded the nail into the floor with three blows.

The squeak was gone forever. The carpenter pulled out an invoice slip, on which he wrote the total of $45. Above that total were two line items:

Hammering, $2

Knowing where to hammer, $43