Business and life: How will you be remembered?

After concluding my business meetings in Washington Friday afternoon, I stayed on for the weekend to attend a memorial service for the late Irving Sirken, 87, one of my wife's uncles and a World Bank economist of some renown.

Several dozen relatives and friends attended the gathering at the Cosmos Club. Two common themes described his life: Brilliance and a good natured acceptance and connection with everyone.

His wife Muriel in informal observations after the ceremony described some of their more astounding adventures in places like Moscow (when the Communists still ruled) and in Kenya, where their accommodations included bedside machetes and holes in the walls so you could point guns out to dissuade intruders (and I, in my time in Africa both in Kenya and war-torn years of transition between Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, never saw anything that close to danger.)

Sirken could speak five languages fluently, but still enjoyed sports and (like many men) had great challenges in asking for directions when lost.

I recall hearing the remark by someone advocating personal responsibility and development for you to think what your obituary would sound like, and what you need to change to make it sound like what you would like. There is some truth in this advice, even though we often want to put aside thoughts of our inevitable end. Can we define our lives by what we will be remembered by when we die?

This posting may seem to have little to do with construction marketing, but in many ways it touches on one of the most important marketing lessons we can learn. Our lives are interconnected with personal and business elements, private and public, and we are shaped in our decisions by our experiences, our friends and family members, and fate and opportunity.

In marketing our services, we need to see this holistic picture when we connect and communicate with the people with whom we are working -- and as business owners, it is vital we recognize that our employees and contractors/suppliers also have lives outside their work.

This doesn't always lead to easy answers or solutions: You may wish to support and empathize with an employee suffering personal turmoil which is causing problems at work, but if the employee's problems are bringing down the business as a whole (and thus the livelihoods of everyone else in the organization), what should you do. And what if you -- not your employees -- have the "personal problems"?

As for Irving and Muriel, I fondly remember my early visit to Washington, when, with a 9 pm flight home, I could not find Interstate 66 out of downtown towards Dulles Airport, despite concluding my meetings much earlier in the day. Driving around and around, totally lost, I even resorted (after several failed attempts) to get directions from others. Past 8 p.m., I knew I would miss the flight, so called Irving and Muriel-- and received their gracious hosting for my first overnight stay here.

Thankfully, for myself and most men, the GPS has largely solved our direction-finding problems. But I haven't forgotten the simple piece of hospitality that marked a long life of generosity and achievement.

Coffee and Gossip (Courtesy Ford Harding)

Maybe Bestline Plumbing in Los Angeles won't win web page design awards (neither will I!), but Leonard Megliola is one of my panel of experts that knows his stuff. This "would you marry a plumber" image is from his website. I will meet him tomorrow.

One of the best things about this blog is that it has allowed me to develop relationships with some really competent people. Reflecting my business, I have an interdisciplinary approach. I'm looking forward to rolling up on my rented CBR 600 to meet Leonard Megliola at Bestline Plumbing in Los Angeles tomorrow; equally, I've enjoyed many dialogues with Harvard graduate and rainmaking guru Ford Harding.

If you are intimidated by power, you should read Harding's latest blog entry where he suggests the best way to capture the ideas and minds of CEOs is to have coffee (or maybe network through linkedin.com) with their subordinates.

Great marketers of course learn to relate across cultural, geographical and economic lines to achieve their business objectives. Paradoxically, the best way to succeed is to be yourself and do what you enjoy doing. I'll never be a championship motorcycle racer, but today enjoyed the experience of riding through the Malibu Canyon on a powerful machine that burns $7.50 in premium gas if I use the entire tank. (And yes it is a legitimate business expense as my wife and son will be using the personally-rented car while I am doing business tomorrow -- though I will rebate the cash cost of the rental back to the company as it is unfair to abuse this mixture of business and pleasure.)

Paprika Marketing in Los Angeles

Yesterday, in a flash of inspiration after generating three blog entries in 15 minutes, I sent out a special e-card to discuss the idea of The Paprika Effect -- the use of little spices or extras (to the side dishes) that create an enticing client experience.

Despite the fact that most of us are in the middle of a long weekend, so far almost 400 people have opened the email.

Louis Magliano of Bestline Plumbing in Los Angeles suggests that, for his business, the little extras to create a great experience are built through the relationship from beginning to end.

Your question is difficult to answer because we pour paprika over the entire deal before work is commenced.

The first part of your question was what do we do to make the experience enjoyable. When closing the sale, we tell the customer we want them to feel comfortable, sit back, and relax because we will not ask for one penny until the job is 100 per cent completed and not until they are 100 per cent satisfied. We tell the customer they have a lifetime guarantee or a very extended guarantee and it is like we own their plumbing. We promise that we will continue to work on their job until it is finished without going to other jobs. We tell the customer a supervisor will go to the job, check every inch of the job, take pictures and give them pictures of the work. We tell the customer that in my 36 years of doing business we never added extras to a job.

We never told the customer we made a mistake and needed more money and the price quoted is the exact price that the customer will pay, and if we do find something we did not see that is related to the scope of work performed, we will repair, or replace it for free.

The second part of your question asks what we will add to a job. As stated in the first question, during the performance of our work we will throw in many free faucets, a garbage disposer, toilet, and many other small items without even telling the customer we are doing this for them.

The biggest thing we do is something I don't think any contractor does and that is we will actually lower the price of a job after a contract is signed and even after the job is 100 per cent completed, and even when the customer appears to be perfectly satisfied with the price. In the contracting business, there is no set price and there are times we feel we charged the customer more than we should have. I will lower a customer's price, without the customer asking, about three times every year. Also, when sitting with a customer and even after a customer agrees to a price, and even after the contract is signed, I will discount the job a few hundred dollars.

The more obvious way to make a job a good customer experience is cleanliness, mannerisms, and following through with everything spoken and written. We are clean-freaks and our employees must follow many guidelines for protecting the customer's property and accommodating the customer's needs that may include giving the customer the use of a restroom at all times, helping the customer to move their furniture, or making the job peaceful by having our employees keep their voices quiet.

We honor and live by this statement and will not take one penny from a customer:

"A sale is not a sale unless both the buyer and seller are 100 per cent satisfied"

About three times a year a customer will call and tell me he has a job that is completed, he would like to pay, and he has an issue that needs to be corrected. The customer is willing to pay and let us correct the problem later, but I tell the customer not to worry and not to pay until everything is perfect.

I believe all these things help create a good experience for the customer.

I'll share other readers' Paprika ideas in future postings (and tomorrow's Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter). In the meantime, please feel free to share yours with me -- and this blog's readers -- by commenting or emailing buckshon@cnrgp.com.

The Paprika Effect

This blog posting, The Paprika Effect: The Brain-dead Simple Formula to Instant Customer Delight, offers a intriguing insight into creating a culture of client service and value -- think about enhancing the 'side dishes' of your client experience. (The writer cites a restaraunt in Singapore which discovered how putting some paprika on the fries creates enough of a delight to create hour long lineups for service. Next time I'm there, I'll make sure to visit Astons.)

Can you find your own "paprika effect" in client service?

Advertising, branding, and service

Construction industry consultant Michael Stone with Sonny Lykos in a December 2006 photo

The late Sonny Lykos outlines in this June 2004 Journal of Light Construction posting, the basic issues you should consider in advertising and marketing. His points remain valid today.

Nothing - NOTHING we do or say that involves a customer is ever to be thought of as minor, small, unimportant, or insignificant. NEVER!

If your advertising brings your client to the door, the way you treat your client defines your ultimate business success, Lykos advocated. this is a fundamental point which you should regard consistently and vitally.

About Geckos and Dollars

I'd never associated the Gecko with rental cars, and didn't even know where Buscerias is -- so how did we end up doing business with Gecko Rent a Car? The answer provides some important marketing insights.

As we made our plans for the Punta de Mita visit, we needed to choose a rental car service as the place we are staying at is a little off the beaten track and a car is essential. My first instinct: Get the best price, go on the Internet and select a car from whichever Expedia came in at "lowest"; then cross check to see if there are any negative observations through a secondary search. Dollar Rental Car, one of the less widely known but still recognizable "brand names" came up -- so I booked on line.


Then Vivian forwarded me an email from correspondence she had with an Internet forum (which led her to choose the relationship/destination club we chose.). The other forum member, in a personal email, recommended we try Gecko Rent a Car in Buscerias.

Now, I've never heard of a rental car company named "Gecko", and had the foggiest idea of where Buscerias is, but I hoped they would have a solution to a problem we had with our vacation.

Outbound travel: No problem, we would pick up a car at Puerto Vallarta Airport in mid afternoon in the conventional manner. But return was proving to be another challenge. To get the best fare (in fact maybe the fare proved to be 'best' because of this problem), our flight departs at 7 am. Trouble is, the place we are staying at is a 30 minute drive from the airport, and to allow for international flight connections, this means we must be on the road at three a.m.

I've never been to Mexico before. I read scare stories about driving at night in Mexico, and we were perplexed about what to do. So, instead of dealing with some robotic call centre or "reservations agent" I typed an email to "Dear Gecko" and explained my concerns.

This is the response I received:

Hi Mark we do have a Jetta available for that time frame. The price after all insurances and taxes is 360usd Visa or Mastercard or 325 cash. We can work out your departure. We may have to send a man out there to drive you to the airport. If you want to book this vehicle please send your arrival time, name of airline, flight number, departure time and the number of people in your party. I need this in order to book the vehicle and arrange transportation from the airport to our office which is half way to Mita. Regards Denis

The price seemed competitive, and the service -- well, if they are ready to send someone out to us in the middle of the night to help us return our car, these guys are obviously not following by the rule books I associate with conventional rental car companies. So we signed on.

And so far, the client experience/engagement has been impeccable -- and a lesson for marketers anywhere.

In confirming the rental, Denis told us that we should watch for a kiosk calleed "VIP Service" after clearing customs, but before entering the "mandatory" room where time share shills hawk their wares. Indeed someone had a sign with my name, and directed me forward. And indeed, I ran into the Timeshare gauntlet, where two sales guys asked me "Do I have the hotel voucher" as if we had some kind of relationship with them, but really to get us to some rip-off time share deal or another. Out the door, and then the very visible and well furnished VIP Room, where Gecko had arranged a private driver to take us to Buscerias.

Our driver engaged us as we drove 40 minutes, dropping us off at a hole-in-the-wall place we would never haver found (or even considered) if we were choosing based on the supeficial "advertised" brand rather than real experience and first-hand recommendations.

Denis -- turns out his father is from Montreal, where my wife grew up -- said unfortunately the Jetta hadn't been returned by the previous client, but not to worry, we would get aother, less expensive, car and they would drive up to replace it. He gave me simple instructions about the rules of the road in Mexico. He didn't force me into CDW insurance waivers, "fill up the tank" and other gimmicks. But a hand written sign said they had cellular phones for rent for $20 for the week -- and when he told me the cost of using the phone compared to my Canadian cell phone's overpriced roaming rates, I took the offer.

I asked about the return procedure. Denis said by the time we had been here a week, we probably would be comfortable driving at night. In that case, we could come in the day before, settle up the account, and then drive the car to the airport, and leave it in the parking lot, door unlocked, with the key under the mat. But if we were unconfortable with that option, he would arrange for a driver for us. I thought: "leaving a car unlocked at three in the morning in Mexico... well he knows his business and the local area better than me, and I'm sure he woldn't set up a situation where he felt he would lose his car"

So we got our car; a downgrade, something that would normally annoy me, but we found the lower priced car quite suitable and, with the clear instructions, arrived at our destination. In fact, I thought, why not save some money and keep the cheaper car.

Then I heard the ring on the cell phone -- the one they had rented me. Their driver would bring out the proper car; I couldn't keep the less expensive model because it had been rented to someone else. Within half an hour, with minimum interruption, we had the new car and it looks like it will be a pleasure to drive (no charge for the gas for the temporary downgrade, of course.)

Now, I'm dwelling on this experience at some length, because it teaches some rather important marketing lessons.

• If you can build relationships with customers to the extent they will refer you personally, you don't need a big brand name, expensive advertising campaigns, and huge sales budgets. Nor do you need fancy offices, "convenient locations" and sophisticated "call centres."


• If you can build flexibility, trust, and humanity into your business, you can overcome client fears -- often valid -- and keep things simple. So, yes, we'll probably drive back at 3 a.m. to the airport (but it is reassuring that if I don't feel comfortable with that option, an alternative can be arranged.)


• You still need to deliver the basics: In this case, a clean, reliable car, at a price that is in line with the competition but you can also sell the extras -- in this case the cellular phone service -- without pressure or hype.


• Little things count a lot: The warnings about the "time share salespeople" allowed me to navigate that maze at the airport, and the driving service to the rental car office helped to overcome the off-site location (which is actually more convenient to us where we are)

Note also that while we may return to this area in the future, we are not likely to be big, loyal, long-term clients; and while of course we would really listen if Denis had other rental car suggestions elsewhere, that is unlikely, as this is a local business. So Gecko has overcome many limitations that smaller businesses must encounter, and done it with class and ability.
These are lessons worthy of remembering for the future.

Marketing, sales and relationships

This image of a Wells Fargo bank branch in San Francisco is from an article: First National Bank of Cappuccino? The Experience Economy Gathers Steam in Marketingprofs..com. The authors suggest that by creating an experience environment, you can engage your clients. Maybe. So far, I'm finding the metaphor stretching a bit much, so I've decided to stretch my own metaphors with the following posting.

I'm reading The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business is a Stage, by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore. Although I'm finding much useful material in the first part of the book, its thesis is somewhat disturbing to me. While the authors are talking of the dramatic stage as in "experience", I see the theatre as an enjoyable, artificial, and temporary place of entertainment. In other words, acting and drama are certainly important parts of our lives, but they are, by their very nature, fake. I shudder to think of businesses operating on those principals (excluding the entertainment industry, of course).

But if we take the thesis of the book that non-business elements of life can serve as useful metaphors for commercial activities, then we may find some useful insights. And here, I think of the relationship between sales, marketing, and dating/marriage.

In dating:

• It helps to know who you really want to go out with;
• Sometimes the direct, in-the-face approach works (it depends on the person) but usually a softer, more natural and round-about approach, the "dating dance", is more effective.
• You often achieve the greatest success without really trying; it happens naturally -- in fact, too much effort is a turn-off;
• Persistence and perseverance can work, if you are not a pest and relax. (I know this works first hand -- after dating Vivian three times, she said "lets be friends". I accepted. Thirteen years later we married.)
• Once you are in a healthy long-term relationship/marriage, it takes much less effort than dating to maintain it, but you still have to work at it. (We are celebrating our 14th anniversary on Wednesday.)
• Consider the parallels to sales, marketing and business relationships, and you will see meaningful similarities. One approach doesn't work for all circumstances, but it seems that letting go and relaxing, creating as natural an environment as possible, produces the best results in most circumstances.

As well, as in life, some of us find this stuff comes naturally, and others (like me) have to work hard to learn it.